CHAPTER XXXIX. 



FOXES AND GAME. 



THERE are very few districts where game is preserved which 

 do not come also under the denomination of fox-hunting 

 countries. As it is impossible to regard the fox as vermin 

 in any other than wholly unhunted districts, it naturally 

 follows that wherever any material number of foxes are 

 sought to be maintained for hunting purposes, upon the 

 gamekeeper falls the somewhat difficult task of tolerating 

 within his coverts and other suitable portions of his 

 preserves one of the worst enemies if unchecked to 

 which furred and feathered game can be exposed. The 

 statement is not infrequently made that it is impossible to 

 have foxes and pheasants upon the same ground, and is, I 

 am afraid, often put forward as a reason or an excuse for 

 a poor show of birds. Without entering into the pros and 

 cons of a matter which has been made the subject of end- 

 less arguments, it is necessary to state that, given a mode- 

 rately fair condition of things, there is not much difficulty 

 in preserving game, which includes having pheasants, and 

 offering a reasonable supply of foxes besides. 



Of course, in some districts where practically everything 

 is made subservient to the interest of fox-hunting, game- 

 preservation must suffer or possibly stand aside ; otherwise, 

 however, without any resort to the clandestine destruction 

 of foxes I see no reason why game-preservation should not 



