FOXES AND THE EVERLASTING QUESTION 179 
through the winter, and also in woods, within a 
few yards of ideal roosting-trees. Many mornings 
are misty for some while after pheasants have come 
down from roost, and mists cover many misdeeds of 
foxes. Another fallacy which seems to be popular 
is that sitting game-birds are safe from foxes till 
their eggs are on the point of hatching, because, 
it is supposed, the birds do not give off scent till 
then. It is obvious that the risk through scent 
of a bird sitting quietly on her eggs is not so 
great as when she is covering a nestful of chipped 
or hatching eggs, but it is nonsense to say she 
gives out no scent in the early days of sitting. I 
have had scores of birds snapped up during the 
very first night on their eggs. A decent dog will 
detect a sitting bird by her scent if he has the wind. 
It is child’s play to a fox to detect by scent what 
is not easy to a dog, and a fox needs no hint 
always to take the wind. A fortune awaits anyone 
who will introduce a race of foxes with more scent, 
but no sense of smell. 
In the present state of things there is only one 
way to save hunting from becoming, in the near 
future, in some parts of the country, a sport of the 
past—by restraining all foxes during the few months 
in which winged game chiefly breeds. If this plan 
is carried out with a loyal understanding and co- 
operation between hunt managements and holders 
of shooting-rights, it should prove a happy com- 
12—2 
