HOW TO PRESERVE FOXES 73 



seven years paid rewards for heads of 130,000 foxes. 

 As nearly as I can estimate, hounds in England kill 

 about 15,000 or 16,000 foxes a year, including cubs. 

 If we multiply these numbers by seven, we shall find 

 that 112,000 is the total, so that, apparently, even 

 considered as a means of making war on foxes and 

 keeping down their numbers, hunting is successful. 



This brings us to an important matter in the pre- 

 servation of foxes. What was originally meant by 

 preserving foxes was this, that in consideration of 

 the sport given by the fox before hounds, he was 

 only to be kept down by them. But hounds were to 

 keep him down, and this understanding is still at the 

 foundation of fox-preserving. People who are to be 

 trusted about wild foxes object to those that are turned- 

 down, and not altogether without justice. It may be 

 said that hunting is to a certain extent decadent in 

 those countries where wild foxes are not to be found. 

 But it is in any case clear that one factor in inducing 

 people to preserve foxes is that the pack should kill 

 them down. When spring comes round the stock 

 should be sufficient but not overwhelming. It is in 

 the spring that foxes do most damage. Of course 

 the question what is a sufficient stock of foxes is 

 one on which opinions differ. Writing from a hunt- 

 ing man's point of view, we might say with Beckford 



