114 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN 



it into several pieces he lays the feathers, which 

 are bloody, about the cover, probably in twenty 

 different places. Shortly afterwards he begs his 

 master to go and see the damage the fox has done, 

 and takes him round to all the places where the 

 feathers, etc., are, and persuades his master that 

 there has been a hen pheasant killed at each place. 

 This trick is played at other seasons as well ; by 

 which means, having apparently shown such a 

 convincing proof, he often gains permission to 

 kill the fox, — " Only in a quiet way, you know, 

 sir ! " 



There are other charges against foxes which 

 they do not deserve. One is that of taking away 

 lambs from a sheepfold. The writer does not 

 mean to say that such a thing has never happened, 

 — ^though it has never been proved to him, — but 

 the following did happen. A respectable farmer, 

 who used to hunt regularly with his hounds (and 

 who will probably see this), told him that he was 

 sorry to say there was a rogue that had taken 

 away a lamb several nights following, and begged 

 that the hounds might draw the hedgerows about, 

 and find this villainous fox. A few days after- 

 wards he came and urged it more, saying that 

 other lambs had been taken. As it was an unlikely 

 country to find, a by-day was fixed on. Every 

 hedge and hedgerow at all likely was drawn without 



