12 Game and Foxes. 



useless to take such measures as this, for if a fox 

 cannot be prevented discovering a nest all else is 

 futile. He is not in the least afraid of wire-netting ; 

 and how can a circle of such material be fixed 

 round every nest in the centre of a fence and 

 other awkward positions ? The labour involved 

 would be enormous. 



A favourite device of old-fashioned keepers was 

 to place near each nest old traps, chains, plough- 

 shares, or any iron article of at all complicated- 

 looking pattern. These were efficient as a pro- 

 tection, but a hundred nests would need a cart- 

 load or more of such articles, which collection 

 would be difficult to move and hardly obtainable. 

 For a few nests, sufficient may be available, but 

 such a protective measure is not easy to adopt 

 widely. 



Human urine is as satisfactory a protection as 

 anything to a nest about to hatch, and no fox will 

 dare to go near it, but its influence does not last 

 longer than one night. If stale the urine is more 

 effective, and it may be employed with every 

 confidence in the absence of other protective 

 fluid. 



It is a pity the merits of luminous paint in the 

 game preserve are not more widely known and 

 acknowledged, for here is a protective medium 



