CHAPTER III. 



TURNED-DOWN CUBS. 

 It is a great misfortune when, through circum- 

 stances over which you have had no control, it 

 becomes necessary to turn down cubs, as they 

 seldom show much sport the first year owing to 

 their ignorance of the country, and, being half 

 tame, often fall an easy prey to hounds. Should, 

 however, your stock of wild foxes have become 

 exhausted, something must be done, unless you 

 wish to see your coverts drawn blank the 

 following season — a calamity too dreadful to 

 contemplate. 



I may mention here that if mange, of which 

 more next chapter, has been the cause of your 

 scarcity, it is absolute waste of time and trouble, 

 not to mention expense, to attempt to turn 

 down healthy cubs until you have utterly des- 

 troyed every earth which could by any possibility 

 have become infected, as the cubs are perfectly 



