SOME DEPREDATIONS 289 



covert lost some turkeys a day or two afterwards, 

 and, though he made no claim, the fact was made 

 public enough. Now, this extraordinary voracity 

 on the part of the foxes exercised the mind of a 

 country policeman no little, and that intelligent 

 officer — I believe he rose to the head of his pro- 

 fession, and if he did not, he deserved to — acting 

 upon a few trifling incidents which had come 

 casually under his notice, paid a domiciliary visit 

 to a certain quarter on the night before the Christ- 

 mas market, and there he saw a sight sufficient to 

 make the mouth of any intelligent officer water. 

 Geese, beautifully dressed, with giblets tastefully 

 arranged, and neck-skins filled with blood ; 1 tur- 

 keys, plump of breast and snowy of skin, met his 

 eye, and caused him to smile sarcastically, as he 

 asked their ostensible owner where he had obtained 

 them. The answer not being satisfactory, he 

 requested the company of the gentleman on whom 

 he had made such an untimely call, and the result 

 of his visit was that that worthy ate his Christmas 

 dinner at the expense of Her Majesty. The 

 pleasing feature of the case was the promptitude 

 with which the man who had lost his poultry came 

 forward to repay the hunt the money that it had 

 given him, which, of course, was not taken back, 

 as the old man had, unquestionably, sustained a 

 loss. 



The next case happened several years after that 

 just recorded. A farmer, well-to-do, lived in a 

 place which of all others was the most awkwardly 

 situated for any one who had large quantities of 

 poultry, for fox coverts surrounded him on all 

 sides, and the number of foxes in the district may 



1 In the North the blood, mixed with oatmeal, is put into the giblet pie. 



U 



