30 HUNTING. 



POULTRY CLAIMS. 



The claims sent in for loss of poultry have 

 become a very serious question in hunting finance. 

 Were you to see the enormous number sent in you 

 would imagine all the poultry in the Empire was 

 hatched and reared in your country, and all the 

 foxes in England were collected in it to devour 

 them. No doubt the majority of these losses are 

 bond fide losses, but people forget that poultry have 

 other foes than foxes. Disease, cats, dogs, rats 

 and other vermin, to say nothing of two-legged 

 foxes, are often the real culprits. But if they lose 

 poultry they put it all down to " the fox " without 

 enquiry. Many, too, are utterly careless about 

 shutting up their fowls at night, which, of course, 

 is exposing them to almost certain destruction. I 

 regret to say, too, that there is a class of man in 

 every country who desires to get a certain sum out 

 of the hunt and sends in claims, expecting only to 

 get a certain proportion. These claims are gener- 

 ally fictitious, and fowls are charged for that have 

 never been in existence at all. I have heard of 

 men who, on taking a new farm, have calmly asked, 

 " How much can be made out of the hunt .'' " Great 

 care is therefore necessary in dealing with these 

 claims, which should be at once investigated, and, if 

 just, paid promptly. 



Foxes are often accused of killing lambs. 



