FOXES AND THE EVERLASTING QUESTION 179 



through the winter, and also in woods, within a 

 few yards of ideal roosting-trees. Many mornings 

 are misty for some while after pheasants have come 

 down from roost, and mists cover many misdeeds of 

 foxes. Another fallacy which seems to be popular 

 is that sitting game-birds are safe from foxes till 

 their eggs are on the point of hatching, because, 

 it is supposed, the birds do not give off scent till 

 then. It is obvious that the risk through scent 

 of a bird sitting quietly on her eggs is not so 

 great as when she is covering a nestful of chipped 

 or hatching eggs, but it is nonsense to say she 

 gives out no scent in the early days of sitting. I 

 have had scores of birds snapped up during the 

 very first night on their eggs. A decent dog will 

 detect a sitting bird by her scent if he has the wind. 

 It is child's play to a fox to detect by scent what 

 is not easy to a dog, and a fox needs no hint 

 always to take the wind. A fortune awaits anyone 

 who will introduce a race of foxes with more scent, 

 but no sense of smell. 



In the present state of things there is only one 

 way to save hunting from becoming, in the near 

 future, in some parts of the country, a sport of the 

 past by restraining all foxes during the few months 

 in which winged game chiefly breeds. If this plan 

 is carried out with a loyal understanding and co- 

 operation between hunt managements and holders 

 of shooting-rights, it should prove a happy com- 



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