The Merry Past 



amusement of the field. " It's a fox without a 

 brush, gentlemen," shouted the keeper, " a fox 

 without a brush, gentlemen ! Away after him ! He 

 will beat some of you yet. You would not believe 

 that I bred and preserved the foxes for you, and so 

 I have taken care you shall know it this season, as 

 I have docked all the young cubs, and you will now 

 know " (with great emphasis) " my foxes ! " And, 

 sure enough, many breathless chases they afterwards 

 had after brushless foxes, to the astonishment of 

 strangers. One fox in particular they never could kill 

 for some seasons. 



Keepers of this type were rare, and not a few were 

 ruthless as regards foxes. Many owners of large 

 shooting strictly ordered their keepers to preserve 

 foxes, and if it could be proved that they destroyed 

 them they would be discharged. Keepers, then as 

 now, knew well what such orders meant ; they knew, 

 too, that it could not be proved that they killed foxes. 

 They had nothing to do but to dig a hole and bury 

 them in the spot where they had caught them, and 

 they stood a very remote chance of detection. 



A large landed proprietor, who was very fond of 

 shooting, once said to a friend who requested him not 

 to destroy foxes : " When it is proved to me that a 

 fox will not eat a pheasant, I will preserve them." 



As a matter of fact foxes, where they can get other 

 food, are not destructive to pheasants, except during 

 the time the hens are sitting on their nests, and even 

 then it may be obviated by a little trouble in feeding 

 them. 



34 



