312 HUNTING PRELIMINARIES. 



Mr. Head's remark about the liking which a fox shows for the 

 entrails, and states that a dog prefers the flesh of the legs and 

 other parts. He tells me that although a badger will at times 

 kill a lamb, it will not eat it. My friend, w^ho prides himself 

 on the fact that he has never committed the unsportsmanlike 

 action of killing game out of season, informs me that he has 

 often cured dogs of sheep-worrying, by taking the erring 

 animal and a ram into a field, and connecting them together 

 by means of a halter, which is put on the tup's head, while the 

 rope, in the form of a running noose, is passed round the dog's 

 neck. If the dog shows fight or "stands his ground," the 

 ram will in all probability give him a good " doing," and 

 should be aided therein by the whip of the teacher. If 

 he tries to escape, he will be more or less strangled by the 

 rope. A short continuance of this lesson will go a long w^ay 

 towards reformation. 



Roaming dogs will often cause abortion among pregnant 

 ewes which they annoy. Hounds and horses passing through 

 a field occupied by ewes or cows heavy in young, will be likely 

 to produce a similar effect. Hence the necessity for Masters 

 to send round notice to farmers in whose district hounds are 

 likely to hunt. Some agriculturists are not content with the 

 price of lambs. A man who had a farm near Gartree Hill, 

 which is on the Melton side of Little Dalby, once sent in a 

 claim for a cart colt of his that got mange, so he said, from 

 mangy foxes which were in that covert ! 



Farmers often draw a line of tar or raddle (a red pigment 

 used for marking sheep) down the backs and shoulders of 

 lambs, as a means of protecting them from foxes. This pre- 

 caution is not ahvays effective. I am told that all wild animals, 

 from rats to red deer and foxes, dislike tar. It appears that 

 the smell of sheep dip is the cause of red deer being shy of 

 ground grazed by sheep. They do not greatly mind the 

 presence of cattle. 



