364 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



borders of two hunts make no bad thing out of 

 his poultry damages, for he got pay from both 

 hunts till he was found out. The proper way, of 

 course, is for the hunts to divide the damages if 

 they are convinced of the justice of the claim, but 

 in this case, according to my correspondent, his 

 claim has never been investigated. 



There is another point also which wants clear- 

 ing up. Did my correspondent send in his claim 

 at once, as soon as he had discovered his loss ? If 

 he did not, there is no one but himself to blame. I 

 need not point out that fictitious claims are some- 

 times sent in by unscrupulous persons. I know 

 of a case where a claim was made for fifty head of 

 poultry, which were charged at 2S. gd. each. Fifty 

 head of poultry had certainly been destroyed, but 

 most of them were chickens or ducks about the 

 size of a man's hand, and they had been destroyed 

 by the man's own ferrets, and, of course, he knew 

 it. So it is necessary for men to be cautious in 

 administering the poultry fund. 



There is indeed only one way of administering a 

 poultry fund, and that is dividing the country into 

 districts, and appointing a farmer in each district 

 to investigate the claims. The claims should be 

 made as soon as the loss is incurred, and as soon 

 as they have been investigated and found correct 

 they should be paid. There should be no dallying 

 or delay. The putting off and shilly-shallying 

 policy adopted in some hunts aggravates a man 

 more than the loss of his poultry. 



But because a Master of Hounds or secretary 

 of one particular hunt has lost, or overlooked, or 

 mislaid a letter, is that any reason why my irate 

 correspondent should " trap, poison, slay, and 



