108 PHEASANTS 



ways and easy hours, presenting neither 

 difficulty nor danger to its followers, 

 tolerable perhaps as an out-of-door amuse- 

 ment for the old, but not worthy of the 

 prime of manhood. 



This is much what fox-hunters believe, 

 even though they are sometimes too polite 

 to express what they feel quite so bluntly, 

 and the follower of the gun might thus 

 make answer : — "I am all for fair play all 

 round, but don't quite see where I come 

 in at all in your scheme of things as they 

 should be. I am a decent member of 

 society, possibly deserving quite as well of 

 my country as you, and entitled to equal 

 consideration. I happen to prefer shoot- 

 ing to hunting, and one way and another 

 I pay heavy enough already for my sport, 

 without the extra tax levied by your 

 foxes. The labouring class benefit far 

 more by my presence than they do by 

 yours, and further, your very sport is almost 

 entirely dependent on me, for without the 

 game and rabbits that I preserve, your 

 foxes — now more numerous than ever 



