260 



THE FOX. 



the gun had gone off. Beynard, in his rounds, 

 having come in contact with the wire in ambush, 

 fell, dead as Mark Antony: — the contents of 

 the gun having passed quite through his heart. 

 Thus, the unfortunate brute paid the final penalty 

 for his unnecessary intrusion into the realm of 

 prohibition. 



Although the longing of the fox after poultry 

 cannot be disputed, still, when the hunt is taken 

 into consideration, his peccadillos are forgotten, 

 and he becomes a valuable animal to us. 



Farmers and hen-wives have always an oppor- 

 tunity of protecting their roosts, and of securing 

 their poultry from Keynard s grasp, at a trifling 

 expense. 



But, now-a-days, they have to guard against 

 certain bipeds, far more destructive than the fox 

 and all its family put together. Not a fowl-roost 

 nor a goose-house, in all the West-Biding of York- 

 shire, can escape the plundering attacks of these 

 midnight villains. Too idle to work, they resort 

 to the ale-house, whence they emerge, and shape 

 their course to the different farm-yards. If they 

 find the door of the hen-house too strong, they 

 mount aloft, and obtain an entrance through the 

 roof. Whole roosts are cleared in this manner, 

 whilst the thieves themselves, are rarely brought t@ 

 justice. 



