SOCIAL AND ECONOMICAL ASPECTS 189 



by foxes where these are numerous is very great. 

 Last year (1895) we had here a regular invasion of these 

 four-footed robbers ; not only did they carry off 

 lambs, but before these were dropped one ancient 

 miscreant killed a Cheviot ewe heavy in lamb on every 

 alternate day for three weeks. The brute was too 

 cunning to look at a trap, nor would he take poisoned 

 bait. There was nothing for it but to organise a 

 drive, placing the keepers on passes, and using shep- 

 herds as beaters. We got him on the second attempt, 

 and a rare specimen he was, measuring five feet from 

 the tip of his nose to the end of his brush, and with 

 teeth more like those of a wolf than a fox. Serious as 

 the consequences were to me, they would have been 

 far worse in the case of an ordinary farmer, who would 

 not have had the means of organising the drive by 

 which the end of his depredations was brought about. 

 It is held by some owners of forests that it is 

 desirable to encourage foxes in order to keep down 

 the stock of grouse, these birds being a source of 

 annoyance to the deer-stalker. But, besides this 

 being a somewhat selfish view to take, it is based on 

 an imperfect knowledge of natural history. Foxes do, 

 of course, prey on grouse among other animals, winged 

 or four-footed, but the proper way to reduce the 

 number of grouse is to let them alone, and to preserve 



