228 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



men are more to be depended upon than the 

 gentlemen in velveteen, whose demands, if serving 

 under non-hunting proprietors, or renters, are most 

 extortionate, and beyond this there is little chance, 

 pay as you may, of inducing them to act fairly and 

 honestly. They tell you long stories about foxes 

 devouring their perquisites — rabbits — by wholesale, 

 and taking hen-pheasants off their nests, whereby 

 their complement of that kind of game is so 

 reduced that they are obliged to purchase eggs 

 elsewhere. The master of the hounds has no 

 alternative in such cases but to satisfy, or rather 

 pay these mxen large sums annually for litters of 

 cubs bred in their woods, and a handsome douceur 

 for every fox found afterwards. The cubs are kept 

 until found by the hounds, at least some of them. 

 The keeper boasts of his forbearance in preserving 

 them, ])ut they are found no more. He has got 

 his two guineas, and destroys those that remain 

 immediately after, and the old vixen also, if she is 

 to be caught. His guinea for foxes found during 

 the hunting season he considers tolerably secure, 

 since foxes, when routed from adjoining coverts, are 

 sure to seek shelter in quiet places, and where they 

 have little trouble in providing themselves with 

 food. 



These tricks cannot be played under proprietors 

 honourably disposed towards foxhunting. Under 

 them keepers must have a good show of game as 

 well ns foxes — and they have them. Not very 

 long ago we knew a large landed proprietor who, 

 nut hunting himself, took very little concern about 



