THE FOX AS OUTLAW 157 



moral attitude. Thus between the imperfect sym- 

 pathies of the master and the active hostility of the 

 man, the fox is proclaimed an outlaw from some of 

 his once-favoured haunts. But there is another 

 change of greater importance because more far-reach- 

 ing. The farmers were once hunting men by pre- 

 dilection and necessity, and the old school still carry 

 on the tradition ; but the younger farmers are more in 

 sympathy w r ith shooting than hunting — partly because 

 of the fact that they often shoot over their own 

 farms as a right, partly because they cannot afford to 

 hunt. 



Thus the sportsmen among them take to shooting 

 naturally, and the gamekeeper occupies the place and 

 exercises the influence which the huntsman formerly 

 had in the social life of the country-side. 



Again, even the few partridges, pheasants, and 

 hares of a farm have a market value : the shooting 

 can be let. In some countries the rabbits are a 

 source of income, and the rabbits are let to profes- 

 sional trappers. Thus the unpopularity of the fox 

 spreads, and a kind of antipathy grows up against 

 him. There are hunts where the traditional love of 

 foxhunting has decreased, and the fox is no longer 

 safe even where there is little or no game. I know 

 estates where there is neither the one nor the 



