GROUND, STOCK, AND POACHING 205 



from stout pegs, will deter almost any fox from crossing. 

 Where, as is often the case, there are four or five, or 

 perhaps even a dozen, nests along one hedgerow or 

 belt, so simple and cheap a form of protection is 

 surely worth trying. The wire can then be stretched 

 all along the fence a foot or two below the nests, and 

 on both sides if necessary. 



A more elaborate affair is a frame made of wire 

 netting of the same pattern as the ordinary rabbit 

 netting, but with a five or six inch mesh, made of a 

 circular form, in shape like a round dish cover, and 

 about three feet six inches in diameter. The fox 

 cannot or will not get through the meshes, nor reach 

 his paw through to the nest, which is, of course, in 

 the centre of the frame, while the sitting partridge 

 will creep through the meshes and not disturb herself 

 in her incubations. 1 



These have been tried with very successful results 

 on the Duke of Rutland's Belvoir estate, another 

 property where the stock of partridges had, under 

 the old system, fallen to nothing, but which has now, 

 under different management, begun to yield very good 

 bags. / 



1 The only drawback to this invention is that the wire 

 frames may too easily indicate the position of nests to egg-stealers 

 or poachers. The ground must, therefore, where these are used 

 be watched with extra care. 



