HARVEST SPORT 167 



discover the secret, it will be the gamekeeper. 

 Only a giant could see, from the ground, the spot 



where, in a level cornfield, a family of cubs 

 the^ox is takin S shelter ; the keeper's plan is to 



climb into a tree, so that his eyes may 

 sweep over acre upon acre at a glance, and spy out the 

 foxes. Even if the nearest tree be a mile or more 

 distant from the playground and refectory of the cubs, 

 his trusty " spy-glass " will reveal the secret and 

 while he keeps his place in the look-out tree he may 

 signal to a companion, and point the way to the 

 family's eviction. From the top of a tree on the edge 

 of a wood we have found the secret place of a vixen 

 in a field of rank rye ; and when we came to the spot, 

 where a large patch of the rye had been rolled flat, we 

 could have filled a wheelbarrow with the remains 

 of partridges, pheasants, rabbits, and hares. 



With the harvest comes the great sporting festival 

 of the countryman, in whom alone survives the 

 instinct to hunt for food though the days 

 k ave ne wli en every man killed his own 

 game. This sport of the harvest-field is 

 the countryman's by custom, courtesy, tolerance, 

 favour, and not by law. It is sport for the sake 

 of food, and not for the sake of sport. jThe 

 quarry is rabbit. Only two people have a real right 

 to rabbits, and that a concurrent right the farmer 

 in occupation of the land, and the holder for the time 



