BEASTS OF THE CHASE. THE FOX. 73 



sake of the cleanings and offal which they delight in, and 

 mangy or dying ones creep into the folds for warmth, and 

 l;hese facts have given a show of plausibility to the tales of the 

 slanderer. In the hatching season, the fox commits much 

 havoc amongst the sitting birds, and though there is a prevail- 

 ing belief that the hen partridge or pheasant can while on her 

 nest retain her scent, so as to give no indication of her presence, 

 game preservers would do well not to trust to this oft-exploded 

 fallacy, but to give orders to surround such nests as are known 

 with paper or tow, steeped in a mixture of tar and assafcetida, 

 a preparation which does to some extent fend off the foxes. 

 Nevertheless it not unfrequently happens that a wholly unpro- 

 tected hen pheasant rears and takes away her brood from close 

 proximity to a breeding earth, and farmers have been known to 

 declare that they like having a litter hard by the yards, as the 

 fox prefers foraging at a distance from home. 



We give this theory ' quantum valeat,' ourselves believing 

 that it has been founded on a few fortunate accidents. It 

 should be noted that fur seems to be almost essential to a 

 healthy condition of the fox's digestive organs ; it has at least 

 been proved to be so where necessicy has arisen for hand rear- 

 ing cubs, and the excreta of the wild animal will be found, on 

 analysis, to contain a large proportion of this ingredient. 



We have endeavoured in this admittedly imperfect sketch, 

 to give the leading characteristics of the fox ; and take him 

 ' all in,' if any of the carnivora are to be preserved for the sake 

 of sport, no other animal in the British Isles could answer the 

 purpose so well, or at all. 



Owing to his strength and ferocity the wolf is out of the 

 question, even if he were not, as he is, happily extinct ; the 

 otter cannot be pursued on horseback, and the badger is a slow 

 bad traveller. We beg pardon of the two last-named worthies, 

 for classing them amongst the real carnivora. So to the fox we 

 are restricted, for hunting on a great scale, and small reason 

 have we to grumble at the restriction. 



Fleet, and staunch, and cunning, he can test the mettle of 



