MODERN FOX-HUNTING 13 



fox-preserver, where the keeper takes a Hvely interest 

 in the proceedings. He keeps an eye on the foxes and 

 sees that no one interferes with them. In a non- 

 preserved district old foxes or a htter of cubs may 

 disappear in a mysterious manner, and there is no one 

 to appeal to : no one is responsible. I like game- 

 keepers as a body, and try to make friends with them. 

 A resident shooting-tenant can generally be made to see 

 things in the right light. The one to be denied is he who, 

 living miles away, arrives with his party of brother- 

 cockneys on the morning of the shoot with a ' pleasure,' 

 or what is more appropriately called a ' cruelty ' van, 

 loaded with hampers full of luncheon, and departs 

 with his friends, often a syndicate taking the shooting 

 together, as soon as the sport is over. You may take 

 it that the death of a fox by unfair means would cause 

 these gentry nothing but the liveliest satisfaction : so it 

 is pretty certain that, if any of the party get a chance 

 of taking a pot-shot at one on the quiet, the oppor- 

 tunity is not lost." 



It must be remembered that the non-resident shoot- 

 ing-tenant cares nothing about social ostracism in the 

 neighbourhood where he shoots. He belongs to the 

 tribe of the Pachydermata. According to Mr, Herbert, 

 " the only possible way of shifting such a selfish crew 

 is by getting at the real owner of the shooting, and 

 persuading him, by financial or other arguments, to 

 give them notice to quit." But how are you to get at 

 the covert-owners, the real owners of the shooting ? I 

 am presuming, of course, that the real owners have let 

 the shooting because they required money, which, in 



