178 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
There are no rabbits,’ he said: ‘what do they 
live on? ‘Don’t you know,’ I replied, ‘that foxes 
are vegetarians ?” 
Some people who read this chapter may think 
that I am a bit hard on foxes and hunting, and 
that I am a regular glutton for shooting. I like 
shooting, having done a good deal; and I like 
hunting less, not having done any except on foot. 
So I scarcely can be expected to rave about the 
joys of hunting or the scent of foxes. I have 
listened to much hound music, and have heard 
hounds called ‘Melody’—which may explain why 
often a huntsman or a whip apparently has little 
ear for music. Has anyone ever heard a sane 
and sober gamekeeper produce such sounds as 
pour from the raucous throats of hunt servants? 
It is well that foxes are not killed by uncouth 
sounds. 
I do not wish to give the impression that game 
is safe from the depredations of foxes except in 
the breeding season, nor that the sitting hens alone 
suffer; for I have found plenty of cock pheasants 
among the victims at an earth, and it is unlikely, 
to say the least of it, that they had been snatched 
from a nest. It is a mistake to suppose that all 
pheasants go regularly to roost after-they are six 
or seven weeks old; a considerable proportion 
sleep on the ground, even in winter. I have 
known dozens of pheasants to jug in roots all 
