THE FOX. 251 



parts of Africa, and the red grouse in the central 

 and southern counties of England.* 



Let us now consider calmly the case of some 

 of our proscribed quadrupeds, a certain portion 

 of whom, it must be allowed, are sinners against 

 the game laws ; while others again offend but in 

 a limited degree, or are wholly innocent of the 

 crimes laid to their charge. To begin with the 

 former. 



The fox, from his hereditary cunning a matter 

 of notoriety in the earliest ages of the world 

 his habit of prowling by night, and above all, 

 the insatiable and merciless character of his ap- 

 petite, which prompts him at the moment of suc- 

 cess to sacrifice every victim within his reach, is 

 perhaps the most formidable four-footed enemy to 

 game birds ; but as, in the estimation of every 

 admirer of the noble and truly national sport of 

 fox-hunting, reynard himself is pre-eminently 

 entitled to protection, and therefore ought to 

 stand at the very head of the game list, he is in 

 no want of strenuous advocates or admirers in the 



* It is an ascertained fact, that in Ireland grouse, par- 

 tridges, and hares have greatly increased within the last two 

 years ; and looking at the question statistically, there seems 

 no reason to doubt that this circumstance is due to the reduc- 

 tion of the population, partly by the late famine and partly by 

 extensive emigration. 



