CHAPTER LXV 



REFERRING AGAIN TO POULTRY DAMAGES 



Not very long ago I received a somewhat indig- 

 nant letter from a man on the subject of poultry 

 damages. He informed me that he had in one 

 year lost poultry to the value of some £j or £8, 

 that next year he had lost about the same value, 

 and that the year after his losses amounted to 

 about £13. He gave me the particulars of his 

 losses, and I am bound to admit that he did not 

 value his poultry excessively, though in one in- 

 stance I thought his estimate was rather high. He 

 has thoroughly convinced himself that his losses 

 are occasioned by foxes, and by nothing but foxes. 

 He resides on the borders of a couple of hunts, 

 and has interviewed members of both as to his 

 losses. Two years ago he sent in a claim for 

 damages to one hunt, and was told that it had 

 been forwarded to the Master of the other, and 

 not the slightest notice has been taken of it. He 

 says that he was fond of hunting, and liked seeing 

 the hounds about, but he was a poor man who 

 could not afford to incur such heavy losses, and 

 that therefore he would hereafter " trap, poison, 

 slay, and suffocate," to use his own words, which 

 were, I may add, well emphasised. 



Now, assuming that my correspondent's state- 



