24 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



the bushy tail attached, and some without. They 

 vary in size and the colour of the tail, which is often 

 nearly white, in others more deeply tinged with red. 

 The fur is used to line cloaks, and the tail is some- 

 times placed in ladies' hats. Now and then she gets 

 a badger-skin, which old country folk used to have 

 made into waistcoats, said to form an efficacious pro- 

 tection for weak chests. She has made rugs of 

 several sewn together, but not often. 



In the store-room upstairs there are a few splendid 

 fox-skins, some with the tails tipped with white, 

 others tipped with black. These are used for ladies' 

 muffs, and look very handsome ; the tail being occa- 

 sionally curled round the muff. This sounds a deli- 

 cate matter, and dangerously near the deadly sin of 

 vulpecide. But it is not so. In these extensive 

 woods, with their broad fringes of furze and heath, 

 the foxes now and then become inconveniently 

 numerous, and even cub-hunting will not kill them off 

 sufficiently, especially if a great 'head' of game is 

 kept up, for it attracts every species of beast of 

 prey. 



Besides the damage to game, the concentration of 

 too many foxes in one district is opposed to the 

 interest of the hunt — first, because the attendant 

 destruction of neighbouring poultry causes an un- 



