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should see that tlieir importations come from a bond fide non-hunting 

 country. It will not do that the foxes are taken from parts of 

 a country which are not hunted, for we in Ireland all know that foxes 

 bred and living in wild, rocky mountains come down to the lowlands 

 to forage, and in the spring travel far into the interior ; and when 

 old mountain dog foxes are then and there found they give runs as 

 straight as a ruler to their rocky fastnesses ; generally speaking, the 

 very best of the season. 



Xo one should buy a fox except the M.F.H., and he only after 

 he has used every precaution to ensure its having been taken from 

 some place which is at least thirty miles from where a foxhound 

 draws. 



The breed of foxes, like that of all animals, needs to be crossed, and 

 it is highly desirable that imported vixens and dogs should be turned 

 down at times throughout a country. The straightest running and 

 stoutest breed is " the greyhound " — generally, if not always, got in 

 wild mountain districts ; but he is, I fear, a bit mischievous at times. 

 Thick-set, short-necked, foxes are bad, and so are foreigners. " Long, 

 limber, and grey" is the sort to give good runs. And everyone 

 knows that the early spring is the best time to turn down foxes in a 

 strange country. 



As to foxes being alike to dogs under certain similar circumstances 

 there is great difference of oi^inion. The relation of two incidents 

 which came directly under my own notice may enable my readers to 

 form their own judgment. For my own part I infer therefrom that 

 the pairs were overtaken under conditions which made separation 

 or flight impossible to them. 



The Curraghmore Hounds, in the spring of the year, about 1865, 

 had hunted a fox for some miles over the Bessborough country, and 

 finally ran him into Gortrush. They carried the scent to the middle 

 of the wood, and there they killed two foxes in the same spot. I 

 saw the dead bodies at the time. One was a dog, the other a vixen, 

 and both were quite clean, and with no appearance of having been 

 hunted. About the year 1884, again in the early spring time, the 

 Dungarvan train, in daylight, ran over and killed two foxes in the 

 same spot, near Kilmeadan. Their mangled bodies were brought to 

 Waterford, where I saw them next day, and there was sufficient 

 evidence to show that they also were of different gender. 



Men who pay attention to hunting know that a fox, when he runs 

 through a heavy country, gathers in his brush a lot of wet and mud — 

 the weight of this handicaps him terribly, and tends, at times more 

 than the hounds, to jDull him down. It therefore often occurred to 

 me that it might not be a bad plan to " dock " a fox whenever the 

 chance offered. Xo doubt to lose what Xature gave for a good and 

 specitic purpose would cause him, at least, inconvenience, particularly 

 when he had to make a quick turn or exert unusual activity. True, 

 also, a fox deprived of his brush would not alone look awfully bad, 



