IG8 HORSES AND HOUNDS. 



away is a relief to many, for he lives to run another day. The 

 excitement and ardour of the chase, and its healtll-gi^dng exer- 

 cise, are its chief attractions, and I think there can be no ques- 

 tion if a fox had his choice of being hung up in a steel trap all 

 night by his foot, j^ierced through and through, and torn nearly 

 off in his agonizing endeavours to escape, or to be found by the 

 hounds (taking his chance of good or bad scenting days), and to 

 run for his life, which he would select. In one case, eight or 

 ten hours' excruciating torture, before the brute of a keeper 

 arrives, to beat his brains out with a bludgeon, or destroy him 

 by a more lingering death — in the other, " horce momeiito clta 

 mors venit aut victoria Iceta" 



CHAPTER XXVIL 



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 — Conmaon 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. 



I NOW resume my pen for the purpose of giving a few instruc- 

 tions in the destruction of vermin, hawks, crows, magpies, &c. 

 It may not be amiss to particularise the different kinds of 

 animals and birds which prey upon game generally, their time 

 of breeding, habits, and haunts. Foremost in the list, as most 

 destructive, stand the polecat, stoat and weasel. The marten 

 has become almost extinct in many of our provincial counties, 

 but is still to be found in the north of England and Scotland ; 

 it is one of the most beautiful of this species of animals — almost 

 a fox in miniature. In its head and ears it resembles a fox, and 

 also in its tail, which is thick and bushy. The marten was 

 formerly much sought after for its skin, which was considered 

 very valuable, and on that account, perhaps, its tribe has been 

 so much diminished in this country. There are still, however^ 

 large quantities of these skins imported from Canada. 



When a boy, I remember hunting the marten in some thick 

 woodlands, with a pack of harriers, when other game was 

 scarce. They generally held to the thickest part of the covert, 



