258 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



merely suggest, for the benefit of our precious friend 

 fox, that every chance should be given him of avoiding 

 condemnation ; a few rabbits thrown about in different 

 parts of the covert, during the breeding season, which is 

 the only time when pheasants suffer from their attacks, 

 will occupy their attention. A little sulphur sprinkled 

 round a nest, the least smearing of tar on the grass or 

 plants contiguous, or even a sheet of white paper, will 

 prove a security almost, if not quite, infallible. Some 

 of the farm-yards on my own property, situated near 

 the harbour of several litters of foxes, have sustained 

 some considerable losses in poultry. The tenant of one, 

 who had complained of the greatest havoc last year, 

 has, during the whole of this summer, entirely escaped 

 their visits ; the out-houses having been under repair, 

 and newly coated with coal-tar : as all around have 

 suffered in a greater degree, it is fair to impute his 

 exemption to this simple circumstance. If a little more 

 care were taken of fowls, by shutting them all up at night 

 in the hen-house, it might prove still more effectual. 



In summing up the catalogue of offences where- 

 withal the foxes may be chargeable, it is well to ob- 

 serve, that if they are no better since the Reform Bill, 

 neither are they, in any degree, worse in their habits 

 than formerly. It is, therefore, to be hoped, that there 

 is no less disposition on the part of all, in any way sub- 

 jected to the effects of their marauding propensities, to 

 tolerate their peccadilloes, in consideration of the pre- 

 ponderating benefits that their existence confers upon 



