GAMK AND FOXKS. 



CHAPTER I. 



GAMEKEEPERS AND FOXES. 



Hunting men are reluctant to acknowledge the 

 fact, but it is indisputable that game preservation 

 is necessary to the continuance of their sport. 

 Foxes are now required in much larger numbers than 

 formerly, it cannot be denied that they subsist 

 principally on game and rabbits, and the more game 

 there is the less they resort to the hen-roost for 

 food. Were the game to disappear there would 

 be little else but fowls for the foxes to live upon, 

 and the farmer w^ould never put up with losses 

 which the shooting man willingly endures for the 

 sake of a kindred sport. If hunting men would 

 acknowledge freely and openly their indebtedness 

 to game-preservers for protecting and maintaining 

 foxes the latter would feel well repaid, but what 

 shooting men dislike to hear is their statements 

 regarding losses scouted, and the vexatious asser- 

 tion made that foxes do no harm. 



B 



