274 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



to the stringent inquiries made by magistrates before 

 they will grant a game dealer his licence. Every 

 applicant for a licence has to furnish a list of the 

 people from whom he buys game ; and, furthermore, 

 to keep a register of the amount of game supplied. 

 Thus it will be seen that it is easily within the power 

 of the magistrates to deal such a decisive blow 

 against illicit game dealing as to destroy it entirely. 

 Mr. Scott Kerr concludes his official communication 

 with this suggestion : " Allow me to add that 

 magistrates, when granting licences, should ascertain 

 if the applicant, besides owning a shop or stall in 

 the district, as is required by the Act, is in the habit 

 of travelling the country for the purpose of buying 

 eggs, etc., i.e. as a higgler, which is a common 

 practice, as this would distinctly bar his claim, 

 according to the Act." Country gentlemen know 

 that the old-fashioned poacher who worked with his 

 " lurcher " is as obsolete as the dodo ; while such 

 well-known sportsmen as the late Duke of Beaufort 

 and the late Earl of Bradford have taught us that 

 it is feasible to preserve foxes and pheasants in the 

 same coverts, providing that the master superintends 

 the work of his keepers. The proviso is important, 

 since the majority of masters are merely shooting- 

 tenants, or syndicates of shooting-tenants, who do 

 not reside in the district. They take little or no 

 interest in the local fox-hunting, and though the 

 fear of social sporting ostracism prevents them from 

 forbidding the M.F.H. to draw their coverts, their 



