EFFECTS OF PHYSIC ON HOUND AND DOG. 193 



a grass field between these woods, and not far 

 from the birthplace of the cubs, I shot a squirrel, 

 and left it, not designedly for the foxes, but to 

 induce the other buzzard hawk to take a subse- 

 quently baited trap. On the next day, on coming 

 to the spot where the squirrel was left, it was 

 gone, and I had begun to congratulate myself 

 on an improved chance of taking the winged 

 vermin ; but, alas ! on further inspection, I ascer- 

 tained that the old fox, on coming to the squirrel, 

 must have had her mouth already full, for, in 

 taking up the one, she let fall a portion of what 

 was already in her jaws, in the shape of a 

 dead young pheasant, bearing on its crushed 

 form an evidence of the teeth that had caused its 

 death. 



When master of a fox-hunting country, I could 

 feed all foxes in my woods indigenous to the well 

 preserved locality ; but if an unattached old dog-fox, 

 without a mate in the shape of a vixen (don't 

 mistake me, dear reader, I don't mean to say 

 that all female mates are vixens), and with no 

 family to provide for, but time and leisure to 

 suit his sporting inclination and fastidious 



appetite, and who had at some time or other 

 VOL. I. o 



