332 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



it was an open secret in the village that foxes were 

 murdered. On the death of the owner, his nephew, 

 a real good sportsman, succeeded to the estate. He 

 now has plenty of birds and pheasants, and his 

 coverts are a sure find for foxes. The late owner 

 left everything to his keepers ; the present owner 

 superintends the work of his keepers. I may add 

 that the present owner retained the head keeper of 

 his predecessor because he had been an old servant — 

 a fact which goes far to prove the need for super- 

 vision. 



I am forced to admit that the most honest game- 

 keeper regards the fox as his mortal enemy, and that 

 it is only by the most stringent injunctions that he 

 can be restrained from proving his enmity. It is 

 useless to tell him that a fox will rarely touch feather 

 in the same covert as that in which his earth is, but 

 prefers to forage abroad for his food, even when the 

 snow is on the ground. I am inclined to think that 

 the fox, like the fox-hunter, loves the excitement of 

 hunting his game, and does not care about chopping 

 it in covert. I remember an old gentleman pro- 

 pounding the following theory at a country-house 

 dinner party : " I preserve foxes because they will 

 not poach game in my coverts, and will prevent 

 strange foxes from doing so." The theory may 

 savour of selfishness, but I do not think that that 

 will prevent it from appealing to the gamekeeper. 



I have only one more point to lay before my 

 readers, namely, the wholesale destruction of wild 



