6 FOX-HUNTING 



fresh meat. In that case the successful stalk 

 of a fat buck will fill your heart with happiness, 

 and however tough the venison may be, you 

 prefer it to the tenderest beef-steak that London 

 could produce. Of course you would try for 

 the best head, even though you knew the 

 yearling would be better eating, but your pleasure 

 in shooting the monarch of the herd would be 

 more than half spoilt had you to leave his carcass 

 to the coyotes. It is not a question of stomach, 

 for it is quite as satisfactory if what you shoot 

 can be given to some one who will appreciate it. 

 You really want to bag your game, and if that 

 can't be done, you feel you would rather not 

 have shot it. Dogs are in sympathy with us in 

 our sporting aims, and they too have this curious 

 desire to bag the animal or bird that has been 

 shot. The disgust of a pointer or setter is quite 

 painful to behold when the game he has found 

 is repeatedly missed. In further illustration of 

 this trait in dogs, I must tell you a little story 

 of a fox-terrier I had with me out in Western 

 America. For the first month he was out there 

 he wore himself to a shadow, and very nearly 

 broke his heart, in vain attempts to catch a prairie- 



