252 FOXES V. GAME. [PART II. 



reprehensible practice of wantonly killing more 

 than they can consume, for the mere fun of the 

 thing, or perhaps to keep their hands in. The 

 following instance of this fell within my own 

 observation. On coming down to breakfast a few 

 years ago, while staying with a gentleman in the 

 South of England, I was horrified at seeing on the 

 hall-table one of the largest-sized kitchen-trays 

 covered with young pheasants laid out in order, 

 fine forward birds, the ruddiness of the plumage 

 of some already denoting the sex. Passing on, 

 I went into the dining-room, where I was accosted 

 by my host (who, though not loving foxes per se, 

 had, I must say, been always most liberal in pre- 

 serving them, from the time he found he could 

 contribute to the public amusement by doing so) 

 with " Well, you see what your friends, the foxes, 

 have been doing/' "Oh!" I said, "it can't be a 

 fox, it must be a dog." " No dog," answered he ; 

 "but as to that you can easily satisfy yourself." 

 I did so, and found sure enough, to my disgust, 

 that he was right. Some young birds, brought up 

 by hand, had been placed, together with the hens 

 in coops, in a piece of long grass near the house, 

 a certain quantity having been left uncut for that 

 purpose. Amongst these a fox or foxes had been 



