30 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



He had not only an old, rusty collar round his neck, 

 but part of a label attached. When such incidents as 

 the above occur — and they are all too frequent in many 

 localities — the master and the members of his hunt are 

 being distinctly defrauded, and such friends to fox- 

 hunting as the men who invite hounds to their places 

 and provide bagmen, knowing they do not allow wild 

 foxes within their domains, had far better declare them- 

 selves, or even warn the hunt off the ground. 



But the very simple, and what the Americans might 

 call the very thin, device of providing bag-foxes is by 

 no means the worst evil where the game craze is made 

 a fetish of. The tampering with wild foxes by the 

 gamekeepers of people who are friendly to the hunt, 

 and indeed are very often hunting men themselves, is 

 greatly carried on, and in many cases the owner of the 

 coverts has no suspicion of what is taking place. The 

 last-named is possibly a foxhunter, and under any cir- 

 cumstances a game preserver, but he wishes to find a 

 good head of game on his land as well as foxes, and he 

 instructs his keeper accordingly, but, in many cases, 

 does not actually see for himself that his instructions 

 are strictly carried out. 



It need hardly be written here that in these days there 

 are many varieties of game preserver, whereas a gener- 

 ation or two ago practically nearly all the ordinary 

 shootings, and especially the small ones, were in the 

 hands of their owners. But the small country squire 

 has almost ceased to exist, and where he still owns the 

 acres he is often obliged to let the shooting. Many 

 estates, both large and small, have changed hands, and 

 the shooting tenant, particularly the non-resident shoot- 

 ing tenant, has multiplied a hundredfold. The old 

 squires used to have the game and the foxes in their 



