292 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



but acts better. If the fox breaks the snare, 

 which he is almost sure to do five times out 

 of six, he goes off with the broken snare round 

 his neck, and in his struggles he draws it tight, 

 and pulls up the eye of the snare, so that it 

 will not slip back to loosen it from off his neck. 

 There the snare will remain, and he has to 

 wear it as a collar until it cankers and kills 

 him, which it will speedily do. Now copper 

 wire cankers more readily than brass wire, and 

 that is why I prefer it. 



It is very improbable that you will find the 

 fox in the snare, either dead or alive ; I have 

 found one in the snare, dead, but very seldom. 

 It does not matter much whether you find a 

 fox in the snare or not, for, if the latter is 

 broken, you may be sure that he has had his 

 death blow, and is wearing a fatal collar that 

 will soon kill him. If your master pays you 

 ten shillings for every fox's head you get, as 

 some gentlemen do on the Scotch moors and 

 elsewhere, why, of course you had better shoot 

 or trap Master Reynard, for snaring will not 

 assist you'much in that case. 



