FREE SUPPERS FOR THE FOX 245 



him associate the particular squeal of a rabbit when 



caught in a snare with a cheap supper. And he 



discovers quickly that luxurious banquets 



Free await him after a day's covert shooting. 



for^the 8 The discover y has a certain result; after 

 Fox covert shooting foxes gorge themselves, 

 and become totally unfit to stand before 

 hounds. To keepers this is well known, of course ; 

 and there are those who are not slow to take advant- 

 age of the fox's gluttony. Suppose a keeper thinks 

 that a fox or two the less would not be amiss, and 

 knows that on the morrow hounds are to be expected. 

 There is, suppose also, no covert shooting at the 

 moment in his immediate vicinity. Though unwilling 

 to take more direct steps, he is fully prepared to 

 handicap foxes before hounds so far as he may, and in 

 the night before hounds come he provides free suppers 

 for his foes. He is hardly to be blamed, and if blamed 

 by the hunt one keeper at least has a ready answer. 

 In view of a visit from so fine a pack, he says, he 

 wished to show that he had forgiven the doomed foxes 

 their sins, by spreading a final feast. 



There are keepers who, not making the best of neces- 

 sity, harbour in their breasts an undying grievance 

 against foxes and take every chance to malign the 

 foe. After a beat, during which the guns had stood 

 in a hollow where pheasants had come at a good 

 height, a sportsman was collecting birds that had 

 fallen behind him, and to his surprise found a 

 pheasant with its head apparently torn off. He 



