CONTENTS. IX 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



On game-preservers — Food of foxes not confined to game — The real •wild, 

 good fox not a frequenter of hen-roosts — Old woman and fox " in a 

 cradle," at Castlecoomb — Dainty taste of foxes in relation to 



Lord 's venison — Another story, equally true, as to their taste for 



pork — The real story — Foxes less gluttonous than is usually believed — 

 A novus homo — The battue system — Severity in the prosecution of 

 poachers — Comparison between the battue and the fox-hunt . p. 161 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



On the destruction of vermin ; traps and other contrivances for destroying 

 them — The marten, polecat, stoat, weasel ; difference between the 

 two latter — Mistakes of gamekeepers — Owls comparatively useful ; 

 hawks and kites not to be spared — Common house cat, crow, magpie ; 

 methods of entrapping them — The battue system may be allowed, but 

 not defended — Every country gentleman may preserve his game, and 

 yet exercise the greatest liberality and forbearance — Anecdote of a 

 notorious poacher — Other stories illustrative of the troubled state of 

 the country during the author's younger days p. 168 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



Difficulties during a fox-chase, and best means of overcoming them — Dif- 

 ferent behaviour of huntsmen to their hounds — Knowledge of the 

 country essential — ^Difference between foxes early in the season and 

 after Christmas — Relative speed of fox and fox-hound — The run — 

 Death of the fox — The first check the most critical — Mischief of 

 "going to halloos" — Consequence of so doing — Difficulties overcome 

 by perseverance — A scene worthy of Landseer p. 176 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Of hounds that run wide — Running the foil — A month's hunting in an- 

 other country — Run after, and death of a fox that had baffled the 

 huntsman three years — -The author treated to the worst fixtures — 

 Death of a second old fox — Always attended to my hounds' dinner 

 before my own — A sporting divine — Various remarks and anecdotes — 

 Pursuit of a fox running with a rabbit in his mouth . . . p. 183 



CHAPTER XXX. 



Instead of a treatise on the art of catching foxes, I give an account of some 

 runs in Mr. Slowman's country — His pack of hounds — Helping them 

 to a fox, not a vixen p. 190 



