78 SPORTS AND ANECDOTES. 



' Then, d n you, you should not keep chickens 



at all.'" 



It rather amused me, and no doubt the farmer 

 thought it hard lines ; but he was a real good fellow, 

 and took the destruction of his mother's chickens 

 quite in good part, and as a matter of course. 



I believe that a fox that has once tasted lamb 

 becomes very fond of it, and will get one at times. 

 I am sure that they are very fond of swans ; perhaps 

 they will hardly tackle an old cock swan, but that 

 they will make sad havoc amongst cygnets I can say 

 from experience, for they killed six that were half 

 grown, by biting their heads off, in one season, and 

 all were found within a few hundred yards of this 

 house. In fact, they are like the tiger that is called 

 a man-eater, and when once they find a dish that suits 

 their palate they are very apt to order it for dinner 

 more than is justifiable. A fox when pretty hungry, 

 and more particularly a vixen that has cubs, will at 

 times do very daring acts. Many years since, when 

 at Erddig, near Wrexham, which is in Sir Watkin's 

 country, my mother-in-law was walking out with her 

 little pet spaniel ; the little dog, having got on rather 

 ahead of her, set up the most heart-rending yells, 

 and was evidently in great distress and shouting for 



