306 HUNTING DIRECTORY. 



Of the Foxes found 



there are a number of small animals, grouse, and various 

 other birds, in the immediate neighbourhood of these 

 rocky fastnesses, which, no doubt, constitute the princi- 

 pal sources of supply. From inquiries which I have 

 repeatedly made, during various grouse shooting excur- 

 sions, I feel no hesitation in asserting that the instances 

 are very rare indeed where lambs fall sacrifices to ren- 

 ard's voracity — it is only, in fact, when a lamb is first 

 dropped, that a fox will, even under the pressing calls 

 of hunger, attack it. With the geese, (and many are 

 frequently seen in the vallies immediately beneath the 

 hills) the foxes are much more apt to make free ; but as 

 they prowl for prey only during the night, it is entirely 

 the fault of the owners if their flocks suffer. However, 

 in these parts, a price is set upon renard's head, and 

 foxes are unsparingly destroyed as often as opportuni- 

 ties are presented. Their extirpation, however, would 

 appear almost impossible, or at least a work of much 

 more than ordinary difficulty, from the nature of the 

 holds in which they hide themselves, and in which they 

 bring forth their young. In Westmoreland, not far 

 from Kirkby Stephen, on the rocky summit of an im- 

 mense hill, situated close to the main road, foxes have 

 fovmd a secure asylum for ages. By means of narrow 

 ledges of stone, which will afford no footing for a human 

 being, these animals contrive to enter holes or dens in 

 the very face of an abrupt rock, whence it is not possible 

 to dislodge them, vinless some extraordinary means were 

 employed for the purpose. The shepherds sometimes 

 surprise a fox at a distance from his retreat, and he falls 

 a victim to his own carelessness, or his own confidence. 



