22 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



badger remained out of a colony that formerly had 

 inhabited our friend's preserves ; and he expressed 

 a firm intention of " fetching her hout on it." In a 

 rash moment he went so far as to declare that he 

 would prefer three litters of fox cubs to one of badgers. 

 Overhearing this, the Hunt secretary made a good point 

 by saying : " Very well, my friend ; if you kill this 

 badger, next time hounds come your way we shall 

 expect to find at least three litters of cubs." It was 

 notorious that every fox seen on this keeper's ground 

 was, according to him, a mangy one and therefore 

 " best put out of the way." 



Some creatures, after they have been trapped and 

 have escaped, learn the lesson of their lives, and are 



never trapped again, while others find no 

 Once moral at the end of their adventure, and live 



Trapped, j. Q a( j orn th e gallows. It is very seldom that 

 Shy a rat is trapped twice. Scores escape from 



traps at the expense of a leg ; this is a com- 

 mon matter, but a man may trap vermin for a life- 

 time and yet never catch a three-legged rat. Stoats, 

 on the other hand, far less cunning than rats, are often 

 trapped again after escaping with the loss of a foot. 

 We have known a stoat trapped by its last remaining 

 leg, after having been about for a long time on one leg 

 and three stumps. A keeper who was at special 

 pains to preserve the foxes on his ground was much 

 upset by the way in which his neighbours killed them. 



