74 THE FOX 



that a man might as well complain of having too 

 much money as of having too many foxes, but there 

 are other people to be considered. What would be 

 a reasonable stock for Leicestershire would be too 

 many to expect in some provincial countries with due 

 regard to other interests. But even in Leicester- 

 shire sport depends upon killing foxes. The two best 

 Leicestershire huntsmen of our day, Tom Firr and 

 Arthur Thatcher, were and are killing huntsmen. It 

 was said of the former that a fox never escaped him 

 more than twice, and the latter told me in the cub- 

 hunting season of 1900 that his dog pack alone had 

 been out twenty-nine times and killed twenty-nine 

 foxes. 



This question of the stock of foxes leads us to 

 the problem of whether hunting and shooting can 

 exist in the same country without interfering with 

 one another. The answer is clearly that they cannot 

 unless the supporters of each be prepared to give up 

 something for the benefit of the other. But the 

 stakes are not equal. To preserve foxes fairly — that 

 is, to keep a stock of old wild foxes (mere cubs and 

 turned-down-for-the-occasion foxes are no use) — will 

 cost the preserver money, slightly reduce his bag, and 

 give his keeper trouble, for which, however, in most 

 cases, the latter is paid by the Master of Hounds. 



