282 



AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



are no good to the hunt because, never having 

 been taught the country, they know no other 

 place but their own earths, and thus, when 

 hunted, they are easily chopped in cover, or 

 else run to earth a few fields from the spot 

 where they took to the open. So they have 

 given you the maximum amount of trouble, 

 and the hunt the minimum amount of sport. 

 Small thanks you will get from the field, 

 keeper. 



My advice therefore is — don't shoot the 

 vixen, but help her all you can in the way of 

 food, as I have explained, then when the cubs 

 are ' fit,' brush her about, give her warning 

 that she has been your tenant long enough, 

 and advise her and her family to move off 

 elsewhere. Flash a little sulphur down the 

 earth and she will soon shift, she will take the 

 hint, and move cub after cub away, and when 

 they are all cleared off you will have the satis- 

 faction of knowing that both she and her cubs 

 will do you credit wherever they are found. 

 The other plan, killing the vixen, brings 

 nothing but discredit upon you, but by follow- 



