114 



Gayne and Foxes. 



the covert. Even after the smell vanished the tar 

 was sticky on the rails, and foxes refused to pass 

 through till it had dried and no longer adhered to 

 their coats. These are a few striking reasons for 

 coverts being drawn blank, and before giving way 

 to suspicion it would be well for Hunt authorities 

 on similar occasions to search deeply into the real 

 cause. 



If foxes happen to be scarce, very unkind 

 remarks are at times made concerning local 

 shooting men and their keepers, for which there 

 may not be the slightest justification ; it is 

 decidedly wrong to indulge in these maledictions, 

 for others are more likely to be deserving of 

 blame, although the shooting man and the keeper 

 are supposed to be the only persons having an 

 interest in destroying foxes. It is a most unwise 

 thing for a Hunt to give any man a reputation for 

 dealing harshly with foxes, for there is always 

 plenty of people ready to take advantage of such 

 an individual's reputed guilt and indulge freely in 

 vulpecide, with the certainty that suspicion will 

 never fall their way, and that all the blame will be 

 ascribed to the party already bearing so bad a 

 name. When foxes have been found poisoned, 

 and the culprit responsible detected, the author 

 has known neighbours to continue poisoning 



