io8 FOX-HUNTING 



Better to pay smilingly a dozen unjust claims, than 

 to cast a slur on the character of one honest man 

 by doubting his word. It frequently happens a 

 farmer of the right sort will have lost poultry by 

 foxes for several years in small numbers, and yet 

 has never sent in a bill to the hunt. Then comes 

 a time when a vixen, with perhaps cubs laid up 

 in a field adjoining, ravages his hen-roost daily, 

 until at last his wife insists on having compensa- 

 tion, as the poultry and their profit usually belong 

 to her privy purse. The farmer does not like 

 sending in a claim, never has done it, and doesn't 

 like doing it now ; but, like all good men, he must 

 give in to his better-half. Then if that claim is 

 met with hesitation and doubt, the farmer is very 

 naturally indignant that he should be thought 

 dishonest, and a good friend to hunting is at 

 once converted into a bitter enemy. 



Turned-down foxes and those that are affected 

 with the mange are generally the greatest culprits, 

 but the wild healthy ones get into bad habits 

 sometimes, and I have often known twenty fowls 

 killed in a night. I think in these instances he 

 kills just for the sport, as there are never more 

 than one or two fowls carried away. 



