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protect them. It should be the pleasure of men living in the country 

 to personally look after these matters, and not expect the M.F.H. to 

 do so ; besides, when going through the country they have grand 

 opportunities for friendly chats with the farmers and their families. 



The two best men I ever knew for looking after a foxhunting 

 country were Mr. Ned Briscoe of Harristown and Mr. Henry Bower.s 

 of Owning, in the county Kilkenny. Neither hunted, but the delight 

 of each was to look after the earth-stopping and coverts in the 

 winter, and the vixens and cubs in the summer, and to these two 

 sportsmen was the Curraghmore Hunt deeply indebted for a great 

 deal of the good sport it had during the eleven years of ^Ir. Henry 

 Briscoe's Mastership, and the like period of Lord Waterford's. In 

 fact, next to the Master and huntsman, I always looked upon 

 them as the most useful men we had in the whole Curraghmore 

 Hunt. Besides knowing what to do and how to do it, they liked 

 doing it, and did it. 



I think the fox is of all animals the most active and supple of body. 

 Unarmed though he be with the claws on which the cat so largely 

 depends for her agile movements, he can jump and climb nearly as 

 well ; while he can turn and twist himself in the smallest space and 

 into any shape short of a knot. It is curious, however, that the shape 

 of his foot differs so essentially from what we recognise as the 

 shape best calculated to fit a dog for the endurance of long and hard 

 work. A fox's foot is flat and down-at-the-toes, while a dog's should 

 be quite the reverse. Still, that grand and game little animal is 

 often able to beat for miles over a country the best pack of hounds, 

 handicapped as he often is with a belly full of food, eaten, perhaps, 

 only a few hours before he is found, and never in what is called 

 "condition." Oh, what a shame it is (except under very few and 

 exceptional conditions) to dig a fox out and give him to the hounds 

 when the gallant little fellow has got to ground after beating his 

 forty pursuers fairly and squarely above it ! To me it was always 

 the most Cockney, hair-dresser and grocer sort of business to see a 

 terrier as an adjunct to a pack of foxhounds. 



Apart from the sport he gives, and money he keeps in circulation, 

 I really think the fox is the most to be admired of all wild animals. 

 His perfect symmetry of shape, lovely colour, and bewitchingly 

 roguish eye ahvays charmed me ; while activity, inherent courage, 

 sagacity, and endurance are the highest attributes of even the 

 human race. 



Buying foxes is, as I said elsewhere, a very wrong thing for any 

 man to do. The chances are the fox brought to be sold has been 

 stolen in the very country wherein he is offered for sale ; if not, he 

 has been stolen from some other country. In either case, he should 

 not be bought. 



Masters of Foxhounds have, of course, at times to buy foxes to 

 re-stock portions of their country ; but when this is necessary they 



