ENEMIES OF THE GAME-REARER 



it has been inhabited by a mangy Fox. Again, a Vixen is 

 capable of transferring this horrible trouble to her cubs. 



Foxes occasionally give trouble on the rearing-field, 

 and the most effective method of excludingf them is to 

 enclose it by a wire netting to the height of about 8 

 feet. Four-inch mesh should be selected, and the netting 

 turned over at the top to the extent of about a couple of 

 feet. Stout posts must support it at intervals, and the 

 bottom portion must be pegged well into the ground. 

 Certainly not less than half a yard of mesh ought to be 

 pegged down in the earth, to prevent a Fox scratching his 

 way through at the bottom, as the pertinacity of this crafty 

 animal is truly surprising, whilst his persistence in over- 

 coming what may seem insurmountable objects is a fact 

 that is well known to game-preservers in localities where 

 Foxes are troublesome. 



All sorts of devices have been adopted for the protection 

 of the birds in the rearing-field, though with a variable 

 degree of success. Probably one of the best is the alarm 

 gun, and the more widely the utility of these becomes 

 known the more universally they will be employed. The 

 ordinary breech-loading alarm guns will take an ordinary 

 twelve-gauge case, and may be either set on the ground 

 or hung on a tree. Some alarm guns will fire immediately 

 the wire is cut, whereas others yield a second report after 

 the first shot. Automatic alarm guns will fire a shot every 

 hour, and are particularly useful, either on the rearing-field 

 or at the covert side, especially for the latter purpose, but 

 before the young birds are turned into the covert the trap 

 should be kept constantly going, as the more vermin destroyed 

 the better the results. 



Luminous paint, lanterns either plain or coloured, as well 

 as tainting preparations, are amongst other devices employed 

 o 209 



