MAMMALIA 1 5 



of hounds. In the course of the last two years these dogs have 

 killed fifty-six foxes.' 1 



In some cases it was found necessary to supply the funds 

 previously expended by the churchwardens from private sub- 

 scription. In 1847 a society was voluntarily established in 

 Cartmell 'for the express purpose of extirpating all the foxes in that 

 district. The members were staid yeoman and farmers, servants 

 and young men being declared ineligible. The scale of pay- 

 ment was £1 for every vixen, and 5s. for dog foxes and for 

 cubs. Mr. John Atkinson killed five cubs and their mother, for 

 which service he received £2, 5s. from the newly formed 

 society.' 2 



Almost all that has been said of the vulpicide practised among 

 the crags of the Lake mountains will seem disagreeable reading 

 to any south-country fox-hunter, but the truth should be told. 

 The fact is notorious that animal life is so scarce on our hill- 

 sides, that unless the Foxes helped themselves to ' lamb ' 

 occasionally, they could hardly exist. On the other hand, 

 these animals often make their ' earths ' in precipitous places, 

 where the gun and the steel trap must be employed to keep 

 their numbers in check. 



One day last autumn we visited an ancient dame, dwelling 

 alone in an ivied cottage on a lonely height above Ulleswater 

 Lake. There she had lived for sixty years, and her only 

 trouble was the apprehension of a visit from the Fox. When 

 she lay awake in bed in the still night, she frequently heard his 

 short, shrill bark, and trembled for the safety of the hen-roost, 

 which had so often been desolated. The farmers on the lower 

 grounds are equally loath to lose their fattened geese. Only a 

 few weeks ago a Fox killed eight geese on one farmstead. So 

 public opinion maintains the warfare against Eeynard as a public 

 enemy. If the outlaw will afford good sport, he gets fair play, 

 but when he lies up in a lair among steep recesses of the 

 weathered cliffs, the dalesman has obviously no choice but to 

 enforce the reduction of a vulpine family by harsh measures. 

 Thus it has come about that the people in the dale are 



1 Carlisle Journal, January 10, 1829. 



2 Carlisle Patriot, May 21, 1847. 



