io6 Game and Foxes. 



winged game In a hunting country, but he feared 

 to speak of it generally from dread of losing his 

 berth. 



Many hunting-men look with a kindly eye 

 on badgers, but, however welcome their presence 

 in a covert where foxes are given the preference 

 over game, they should not be permitted to remain 

 on a shooting estate. Badgers are responsible for 

 a lot of destruction which is attributed by the 

 io^norant to foxes, the work of the two animals 

 being very similar to all but the experienced 

 keeper. The badger often bores a way into a 

 hen-roost of which the fox takes advantage later 

 in the night. Probably, a badger is as destructive 

 to nests of game and stops of young rabbits as a 

 fox, and has been known to clear every nest out of 

 a fence in a single night. Of eggs of all descrip- 

 tions he is extremely fond, and is guilty of 

 searching consistently and perseveringly for such 

 delicacies. 



When complaints are heard of great havoc 

 among game nests, it is advisable for those 

 concerned to make careful inquiry and exami- 

 nation. In one instance the author heard that a 

 farmer, w^ho had the shooting rights over his own 

 holding, had lost a great many partridge nests from 

 foxes, and was vowing vengeance against the 



