A Fox Shot near BenthaU. 61 



you come and see a fox that a man has just brought in, 

 and wants to know how it was killed ?." was my morning's 

 salutation when these notes had nearly been pen ned. 

 Away I went before breakfast, and there he was, a most 

 splendid dog fox that man ever saw, in the pink of con- 

 dition, with no exterior mark on him. Of course, a post- 

 mortem was at once decreed, and there, too surely, were 

 two deadly shot marks in his heart. His history was 

 shortly this — he had been picked up in a wheat field, on 

 Friday afternoon, MtBenth all, close to the Cross Gates, 

 and within a few fields of Kowton Wood. He had evi- 

 dently been shot from above, and had run on two or three 

 hundred yards until he dropped dead. Mr. Crane, of 

 Benthall, on whose farm he was found, would as soon 

 shoot his favourite sheep dog as a fox, and is naturally 

 anxious to find the culprit. That he may be unearthed 

 and well trounced, when discovered, is the sincere wish 

 of Borderer, and, he feels sure, of every sportsman here- 

 abouts. Jf anything can be ferretted out that is reliable, 

 to mark the guilty person next week, I v/ill promise to 

 publish it iij old Eddowes's front page. 



SIXTEENTH WEEK, February 9 to 14. 



I have very little to say about horses this week, as I 

 do not pretend to be able to thread the mazes of the 

 Spring Handicaps until the acceptances have been de- 

 clared, and racing and steeplechasing are not yet fairly 

 set going. It is pleasing, however, to be able to announ(;e 

 that Mr. Lonsdale has consented to give £50 to be run for 

 at Bangor Steeplechases, for horses the property of farmers 

 and tradesmen within the precincts of the Shropshire 

 Himt, and that if five start, £10 will be given to the second 

 horse ; the entrance to be free. So, my yeomen friends, 

 look to your galloping gees, and do not be shy at having 

 a fling for this nice stake, over the finest natural course 

 that any country can supply. I think I can pick some 

 likely ones for the work, and there is plenty of time to 

 get them fit without overdoing them. Welshpool 

 Steeplechases, on the thirteenth of March, will be a good 

 preliminary canter. 



