CHAPTER LI 



SOME DEPREDATIONS 

 Subtle as the fox for prev. — Cymbeline. 



" He is a good fellow," said a farmer to me, as we 

 were riding on together to meet hounds a few 

 mornings ago, " and I believe him when he said 

 that we should find a good show of cubs, and that 

 his daughters had lost a lot of poultry, and were 

 anxious that we should kill at least a brace." 

 Then, after a moment's pause, my companion 

 added, by way of rider, " You know all bills for 

 poultry damage are not so reliable as they ought 

 to be," which latter, I take it, is a matter that is 

 well known to many a sorely-harassed secretary of 

 the Poultry Fund. It is scarcely necessary to 

 point out that a bill for damages may be made out 

 with perfect bona-fides, and yet be quite unreliable, 

 simply because the man who made it out had little 



1 I have read " Marmaduke's " letter for some time past, with much 

 pleasure. I venture to give him one instance of how foxes are blamed for 

 carrying off poultry when they may be quite innocent. It may be of use to 

 you, to come under " Some Depredations." I hunt a pack of foxhounds in 

 the north, and we are not bothered with complaints from poultry-keepers. 

 But last autumn a claim was sent in for compensation for the loss of "two 

 hen turkeys, carried off by the fox." The birds were running, their feathers 

 were found, a fox had been seen to run through the farmsteading, and a 

 friend (female) of the farmer's wife thought she saw the fox with a turkey 

 in his mouth. Luckily the claim was not paid, for when a small field of 

 corn behind the house was cut, the two missing turkeys were found sitting 

 tight on eggs. 



