THE CUB-STEALING SHEPHERD 89 



and so helps to make poultry pay. His difficulty is 

 to find broody hens at the time when he most needs 

 them. The ideal is a healthy bird, not one with 

 pallid comb or inclined to mope ; she must be of 

 medium size and of light weight, with short legs, 

 small feet, and a wealth of downy feathers. Above 

 all, she must be quiet in demeanour. The fidgety, 

 fussy hen may have excellent intentions, but is 

 likely to cause disaster to her eggs and chicks. A 

 big hen with the sprawliest feet, but of gentle dis- 

 position, and slow to anger, will often prove a better 

 foster-mother than one a model in form, feather, 

 and feet, but in temperament a spitfire. 



Illicit traffic in fox-cubs and partridge eggs is hard 



to stamp out. So long as men will buy fox-cubs 



and eggs there will be men to supply them. 



The Cub- jf there were no buyers there would be no 



stealing 



Shepherd middlemen, and there would be fewer cubs 



which bear the label, " From Germany." 

 Cubs, wherever they come from, fetch a 

 good price, giving ample profit for an hour's hard 

 digging say ten shillings each. Cub-snatching is 

 less risky than egg-stealing. So far as we know, 

 even to kill cubs is not an offence against the law, 

 and so there can hardly be a penalty for taking them 

 alive. The worst that could happen to the culprit 

 would be a prosecution for simple trespass and 



