BELGIUM 85 



do we lose in picturesqueness what we gain in equalised chances 

 of success. Boar are best shot with ball, but many prefer to use 

 shot. 



W^olves have practically vanished from the land, and it is seldom 

 that one hears of the death of one of these brutes. The chief re- 

 sponsibility for their disappearance may probably be 

 traced to the great sporting societies, which, in the 

 interests of the preservation of game, have undertaken the work of 

 destroying the carnivora, more particularly by poison. The forests 

 of Chiny, Neufchateau, Luchy, Gucville, and Arlon are, among 

 others, regarded as the chief remaining haunts of Belgian wolves, 

 but, as is the case with white blackbirds, more people talk of them 

 than see them. Therefore it may without hesitation be said that, 

 save when unusually severe winters send us rare apparitions of 

 wolves in search of food or a milder climate, our wolves are animals 

 of the past ; and those who have an ambition for wolf hunting had 

 far better visit Russia. 



Poison and firearms notwithstanding, there are still plenty of 



foxes in Belgium, though sportsmen, not having the same reasons 



for forbearance as their neighbours the English, have 



^ Foxes. 



outlawed this poacher, and wage against him a war 

 without quarter. Battues are often fatal to foxes, and few smaller 

 deer die so stupidly on such occasions as this otherwise crafty 

 animal. The most effective and also the most popular method 

 employed by the keepers to get rid of foxes is that of digging up 

 the earth when the young are born. 



Though apparently enjoying in Great Britain an only secondary 



