178 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



' There are no rabbits/ he said : ' what do they 

 live on?' 'Don't you know,' I replied, 'that foxes 

 are vegetarians ?' 



Some people who read this chapter may think 

 that I am a bit hard on foxes and hunting, and 

 that I am a regular glutton for shooting. I like 

 shooting, having done a good deal ; and I like 

 hunting less, not having done any except on foot. 

 So I scarcely can be expected to rave about the 

 joys of hunting or the scent of foxes. I have 

 listened to much hound music, and have heard 

 hounds called ' Melody ' which may explain why 

 often a huntsman or a whip apparently has little 

 ear for music. Has anyone ever heard a sane 

 and sober gamekeeper produce such sounds as 

 pour from the raucous throats of hunt servants ? 

 It is well that foxes are not killed by uncouth 

 sounds. 



I do not wish to give the impression that game 

 is safe from the depredations of foxes except in 

 the breeding season, nor that the sitting hens alone 

 suffer ; for I have found plenty of cock pheasants 

 among the victims at an earth, and it is unlikely, 

 to say the least of it, that they had been snatched 

 from a nest. It is a mistake to suppose that all 

 pheasants go regularly to roost after they are six 

 or seven weeks old ; a considerable proportion 

 sleep on the ground, even in winter. I have 

 known dozens of pheasants to jug in roots all 



