346 Practical Game Preserving. 



even among those whose lot it rarely is to leave the 

 neighbourhood of the town ; and being the most widely 

 practised of modern sports, it is not to be wondered at 

 that a good deal of exaggeration has at all times attended 

 the beauties and wonders of fox-hunting and made it 

 seem more romantic and infinitely more full of adven- 

 ture than is actually the case. It has, indeed, become 

 quite a fashion to almost pity anyone who seeks the destruc- 

 tion of foxes other than when "the vig'rous hounds pursue " 

 over hill and dale with all the accompanying glories of 

 hunting. Be this as it may, at the present time we are 

 treating of the fox as vermin, and intend to detail all the 

 particulars necessary for the capture and suppression of one 

 of the most obnoxious animal poachers which infest our 

 preserves, although numerous and warm controversies have 

 taken place as to its game-destroying powers. And here 

 let us remark that there seems to exist a certain number of 

 people who, wholly unacquainted with the subject they 

 discuss, are prone to deny facts gleaned from long personal 

 experience by sportsmen and the like, and ready to treat 

 these facts as mere inventions. Such are they who foster 

 varmints like the fitch and its many mischievous relatives, 

 and who would make us believe the fox never, or, at least, 

 but very rarely, touches or destroys any of the animals upon 

 which it subsists. However, we, unfortunately, never came 

 across a useful varmint, and are compelled to assert that, as 

 far as our experience goes, the fox is the worst enemy to 

 game preserving which we have, excepting the human 

 poacher. To catch the vermin fox is not easy, compared 

 with weasels and stoats, and there is no animal of the 



