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good-fellowship that should exist between the two 

 sports, a loss that a few extra head of game cannot 

 make good. 



Foxes have earned a reputation for killing game 

 which they do not always deserve. If gamekeepers 

 and their employers would more often balance the 

 good a fox does against his crimes, they would look 

 more leniently on him. A vixen with cubs, whose 

 mate has been killed, has little time to hunt for her 

 food and may take the nearest she can get. Keepers 

 know as well as I can tell them, and for which they 

 have ample proof in their billets, that a wild fox's 

 food does not consist wholly of either fur or feather. 

 Rats, mice and beetles are the outstanding ingredients 

 of Reynard's evening meal. It is in his search for the 

 succulent rat round pheasant pens that he often incurs 

 the fears and animosity of the rearer. All those with 

 much experience of rearing pheasants have had 

 trouble with rats, and though rats may be attracted 

 by the food in the first place, they are not averse to 

 killing the yoimger birds; while their egg-destroying 

 propensities need no emphasis. 



When the employer insists on having both foxes 

 and pheasants in his coverts, some keepers make use 

 of a method which is as bad for their eventual interests 

 as it is for hunting. The method is to enclose the 

 vixen and cubs within a wire pen until the pheasants 

 can roost safely in the trees. The vixen thus acquires 

 the fatal habit of getting her food without hunting 

 for it, and is also unable to instruct her family in the 

 art. The result is, both mother and children, when 

 given their liberty, prowl round the neighbourhood 

 of their late prison, killing and eating that which is 

 close at hand. Foxes thus brought up in this un- 



