406 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



moor of an offender with such an established reputation for evil. 

 The methods advocated for his destruction are many, including 

 some of doubtful legitimacy in which strychnine plays a not 

 unimportant part. Of the methods more generally recognised, 

 " trapping " a recent kill, spooring in the snow, watching the 

 den at cubbing time, may be enumerated. In Scotland the 

 " fox-hunter," a gentleman clad not in scarlet but in fustian, 

 is sometimes requisitioned with his mixed pack of lurchers, 

 beagles, and terriers, to aid in the pursuit of his quarry ; some- 

 times he runs the fox to earth, more often he drives him to 

 where a confederate lies in wait to slay him with a shot gun. 



Foxes usually travel to a new hunting ground along certain 

 well-defined routes, which from instinct they know to be their 

 appointed path. Keepers are not slow to take advantage of 

 these " trade routes." The mixed pack is laid on to the stale 

 line of a travelling fox at dawn, and the hunters take their posts 

 in well-known coigns of vantage, often with deadly results. 



Tom Speedy, 1 writing in " The Keeper's Book," makes 

 many interesting remarks upon the destructiveness of foxes, 

 and the best methods of reducing their numbers ; amongst 

 other devices he quotes that of placing a bait on an island in 

 a pool of water. A road or causeway is formed between the 

 island and the mainland, and on this road a trap is carefully 

 concealed ; he specially recommends for bait the carcass of a 

 fox or cat. Speedy, with other authorities, draws attention to 

 the importance of never going near the trap after it has been 

 set lest the fox should scent the presence of man. 



The stoat, next to the fox, is the most determined destroyer 

 of game. Living in old stone dykes, disused quarries or cairns, 

 he steals on the unsuspecting Grouse at jugging time a short 

 worry ensues, and a possible covey is abolished off the face of 

 the moor. It is the habit of stoats to hunt in small packs, 

 and when acting together, and in search of food, they are quite 

 fearless, and will let men approach close to them before abandon- 



1 P. J. Mackie, " The Keeper's Book," 7th ed., 1910: T. N. Foulia : London and 

 Edinburgh, pp. 107-109. 



