72 



FOXES AT HOME. 



shillings to a sovereign, money down, for every 

 fox, young or old. He told me he caught a 

 good number in the season, but '' Lor', sir," 

 he said, '' they were never missed ; they had 

 lots of 'em ! " 



Turned-down cubs require to be fed on the 

 very best. Keepers, as a rule, are most care- 

 less in this respect. Any vermin they shoot — 

 hawks, cats, stoats, &c. — they consider quite 

 good enough for the foxes, and failing vermin, 

 butchers' scraps, sheep paunches, and other 

 beastliness and unnatural food, from which 

 they are most likely to get mange. If told 

 they may shoot so many rabbits per day, 

 where rabbits are preserved, the rabbits will 

 be shot all right, and most likely eaten by 

 the keeper and his family, the poor little cubs 

 having to be content with the paunch ; on the 

 same principle as the Irishman who, w'hen 

 given some whiskey to apply to a bruised 

 leg — 



" With the Hquor wet his throttle 

 And rubbed his shinbone with the bottle ! " 



thinking he was carrying out his instructions 

 faithfully by doing so. 



Improperly- fed and half -starved cubs, 



