THE MOLECATCHER SAYS. By Henry Tegner. With illustrations by James Alder.

# 1964 1st edition. 8vo (140 x 222mm). Ppx,146. B/w illustrations by James Alder. Blue cloth, spine titled in silver-gilt.

Observations of wildlife and the countryside presented as conversations between Tegner and "The Molecatcher." "Who is the Molecatcher? He is a typical countryman of our day, belonging to a generation old enough to have had little formal schooling but possessing a lively and inquiring mind. He is a keen reader and a selective listener-in and looker-in. By reason of his calling - a freelance destroyer of pests - he has had to be a close observer of details, and most of his acquaintances - farriers, farm workers, gamekeepers, grooms, council roadmen, shepherds and sportsmen - have a similar cast of mind." Chapters include:- Moles and myths; The Molecatcher's monsters; The abominable snowman; The seals of the Farne Islands; Some horseflesh; The Molecatcher's dogs; The feline race; The attraction of hybrids; A plague on rats; Hares and their ways; Suburban foxes; The ways of the roe; 'Wild' goats; Badgers' burials; Big weasels; Hedgehogs and hibernation; Little killers; Bat biology; Water voles and some imports; The lives of shrews; Scolopax rusticola; Owls nocturnal and diurnal; Avian visitors; Some fish-lore; The predatory pike; The dwindling frog; A coloured wild-life film.