F. W. MILLARD.

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I BOOKLET I

Vauxhall Bridge Road,
WESTMINSTER, lONDON, S.W.

9090 013 410 200

JOHNA.SEAVERNS

Webster Family Library of Veterinary I\fleclicine
Cummings Sctiool of Veterinary iVIeclicine at
Tufts University
200 Westboro Road
Nortti Grafton, MA 01536

GAME AND FOXES

OR,

The Protection of Foxes Not Incompatible with
the Preservation of Game.

BY

F. W. MILLARD,

SECRETARY TO THE GAMEKEEPERS' ASSOCIATION.

London :
HORACE COX,
FIELD " OFFICE, WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM'S
BUILDINGS, E.C.

1906.

LONDON :
PRINTED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,

bream's buildings, E.C.

PREFACE.

The subject of the joint preservation of game, and
foxes has long been " a bone of contention '*
between the respective votaries of shooting and
hunting, and for this reason it is a theme which
few have attempted to deal with exhaustively, for
fear of incurring the displeasure of one or both
the disputing parties. It is a diflficulty, however,
which for many reasons ought to be faced ; and,
while making an attempt in the following pages
to solve the vexed question, the writer is not
without hope that the advice which he ventures to
give will, if accepted, go far to allay that feeling of
irritation which in many hunting districts at the
present day too often prevails.

If the reader will only lay aside prejudice, and
attentively consider the facts presented to him.

iv Preface,

and the suggestions offered, it is hoped that he
will end by being convinced of the possibility of
preserving both game and foxes on the same
estate and in the same coverts without serious
detriment to either. It will be found that the case
both for and against foxes has been stated with
strict impartiality, and it may be said at once that
the writer's inclination is to advise as little inter-
ference with foxes as is consistent with the
reasonable requirements of game preservers, and
at as little cost as possible.

For naturalists who may not be particularly
devoted to either hunting or shooting the
following pages should nevertheless prove of
interest, for they will be found to contain original
observations on the habits and life history of the
fox which it is believed will be new to many.
Humanitarians, also, may be glad to learn that
there are ways of defeating the wiles of a fox
without destroying him.

A point which the author would seriously urge
upon all who are interested in the question at issue

Preface. v

is that whatever branch of sport may be to a
man's Hking, whether hunting or shooting, he
should have some regard and toleration for the
sport of others. In this w^ay it should be possible
to arrive at a modus vivendi, and to carry on both
sports side by side to the satisfaction of all
concerned.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Gamekeepers and Foxes page i

CHAPTER II.
Protecting Nests and Sitting Birds ... 3

CHAPTER III.
Using Artificial Eggs . 27

CHAPTER IV.
Foxes and the Rearing Field 32

CHAPTER V.

Hand-reared Pheasants in Covert .... 42

CHAPTER VI.
Partridge Coverts and Foxes 53

CHAPTER VII.
Waterfowl and Foxes 57

CHAPTER VIII.
Mangy Foxes and Game 62

viii Contents.

CHAPTER IX.
Foxes on Shooting Days page 65

CHAPTER X.
How TO Manage a Vixen and her Cubs . . 70

CHAPTER XI.
Trapping and Snaring in a Hunting Country 83

CHAPTER XII.
General Remarks 93

CHAPTER XIII.
Foxes and Lambs 116

GAMK AND FOXKS.

CHAPTER I.

GAMEKEEPERS AND FOXES.

Hunting men are reluctant to acknowledge the
fact, but it is indisputable that game preservation
is necessary to the continuance of their sport.
Foxes are now required in much larger numbers than
formerly, it cannot be denied that they subsist
principally on game and rabbits, and the more game
there is the less they resort to the hen-roost for
food. Were the game to disappear there would
be little else but fowls for the foxes to live upon,
and the farmer w^ould never put up with losses
which the shooting man willingly endures for the
sake of a kindred sport. If hunting men would
acknowledge freely and openly their indebtedness
to game-preservers for protecting and maintaining
foxes the latter would feel well repaid, but what
shooting men dislike to hear is their statements
regarding losses scouted, and the vexatious asser-
tion made that foxes do no harm.

B

2 Game and Foxes.

Upon his good friends the gamekeepers of the
United Kingdom the author has nothing but praise
to bestow, for they hold the balance between foxes
and game most cleverly, and that this book may
assist them in such good work is his earnest wish.
To judge by what is commonly said, a keeper
might be supposed never to do justice by foxes,
but it is only necessary to point to the rarity of a
blank day with hounds to prove that there is little
ground for such insinuations. On the one hand,
they are accused of accomplishing the destruction
of foxes by every means in their power, and, on the
other, of shutting foxes in the earths when hounds
are expected ; but why keepers should destroy
them on the one occasion, and strive to save them
on another, is a question which needs explanation.

The majority of gamekeepers do their duty well,
but one and all should remember that there is no
greater proof of skill on the part of a keeper than
his ability to show both game and foxes, and
plenty of them, on the same estate. The men
who are capable of doing this deserve every
encouragement and due recompense and they in
the near future will most certainly command the
best situations.

CHAPTER II.

PROTECTING NESTS AND SITTING BIRDS.

Driving methods have so increased the sporting
capabiHties of partridges, that as game birds they
are held in far greater esteem than they were a few
decades ago. Consequently, more attention is
paid to their increase, and it is a pity the partridge
is not as amenable as the pheasant to artificial
assistance in that direction.

Several methods of affording protection from
foxes to partridges during their breeding season
have been evolved, the most notable of these
being the French and (so-called) Euston systems,
which latter recent events have proved never to
have been carried out on the celebrated partridge
estate of that name. With reference to the first,
little comment is necessary, although it has been
reported a great success in the country of its
origin ; but on this side of the channel failure,
whole or partial, has been the fate of nearly all who
have endeavoured to put it into practice. In

B 2

4 Game and Foxes.

addition, the expense of carrying out the French
system is so heavy that it is never hkely to be
popular in this country, even were it a success, so
no more need be said.

While engaged in sitting, the partridge is very
vulnerable to attack by foxes, and the losses
occasioned by birds being seized while on the
nest have often been enough to break a game
preserver's heart ; but it is satisfactory for the
author to be able to relate that a better state of
affairs is soon likely to exist, owing to the attention
paid on all hands to the protection of the nest.
The Euston system, concerning which such a furore
was lately made in the sporting Press, sprang from
a desire to insure the hatching of each nest, but
the advantage of it is diflficult to see, while the
labour connected with it is all too plainly apparent.
For the benefit of those unacquainted with this
system it shall be explained in as few words as
possible.

Under the Euston system the eggs are removed
from a partridge's nest as the bird lays, and
artificial ones substituted, on which she goes down,
her own eggs meanwhile being brought to hatching
point in incubators or beneath fowls. They are
then given back to the bird, special precautions
being taken to protect her from interference by

Protecting: Nests and Sittino- Birds.

■^

foxes during the few hours she has to remain and
complete the hatching process. On the face of it,
and without seeking farther, this looks a step
decidedly in the right direction, but the practical
reader possessing knowledge of the ways of foxes
will at once see that little is gained at the expense
of much labour. For instance, on the Euston
estate the average bag of partridges is about 5000,
and the eggs necessary to produce this number of
birds may safely be placed at from 6000 to 7000
on the lowest computation. Now, try to imagine
the labour involved in collecting all these aslayed,
bringing them to hatching point, and returning
them to the nests ! And this was reported to be
done upon an estate where a fox is never allowed to
roam at large during the breeding season of the
game ! Had those w^ho ventured to name the
system after this estate given the latter fact the
least consideration, they would have sought further
afield for a more suitable title.

Every keeper Avho reads this book knows full
well that in nearly every instance a sitting
partridge or pheasant is perfectly safe till the eggs
commence to hatch, and then, if special pre-
cautions are not taken, she is likely to be
sacrificed. To some readers it may be a puzzle
why and how a fox detects the presence of a nest

6 Game and Foxes.

at this critical moment, but the reason shall be
explained in due course, and, the statement being
perfectly true, in what rests the advantage of the
Euston system ? The eggs are removed during a
period when they are invariably thoroughly safe,
and once more committed to the care of the parent
bird at positively the most critical stage — this
being during the process of hatching. What is
gained is hard to see, as in any case and under
any circumstances the nest might be safeguarded
during that process.

Sitting game birds are popularly supposed to
be devoid of, or, rather, to emit no scent while
incubating, but it is more reasonable to suppose
that any absence of scent is solely attributable to
the quiescent state of the bird when sitting. She
remains practically immovable on her eggs, and
for this reason stands a chance of escaping
detection by eye, ear, or nose. Nevertheless, that
she is not wholly devoid of scent the author has
had frequent proof, and in a rather lamentable
manner. On wet days the sitting birds are
inclined to linger on the nest, and if it comes fine
in the evening, as is often the case, they all leave
to feed. If this is seen to occur, the keeper
should be on the alert that night, for a bird off the
nest late means that scent will not have vanished

Protecting Nests and Sitting Birds. 7

from her tracks before foxes commence to prowl.
Again, if the bird herself Is wet, the heat of her
body causes steam to evaporate, and this carries
scent with It to be diffused over a wide area on the
nlofht air. Lots of nests have been known to
•disappear on occasions such as described, and it
Is certain that in the main the foxes discovered
them by simply following the trail of the bird back
to her eggs after having been off late at feed. This
is pretty plain proof that a partridge Is not devoid
of scent w^hile engaged In incubating, for both
partridge and pheasant nests are destroyed in the
manner stated. The birds cannot be prevented
leaving the nest when they like, but a little extra
care may well be taken to protect them when It Is
known that a trail w^hlch will guide foxes to the
nest has been left late In the evening.

The liability of a nest just about to hatch to be
destroyed is entirely attributable to the rupture of
the shells ; directly this happens a powerful and
not altogether agreeable odour Is apparent even to
human nostrils placed in close proximity to the
nest, and how much more strongly this must
appeal to those of a fox ! This odour increases
in strength every moment till the brood runs, for
the inner membrane of the shell and all matter
attached thereto commences to decay, so the

8 Game and Foxes.

danger is increased as time progresses. For-
tunately for the partridge she seldom tramples
upon or otherwise kills any of her chicks, but it
has been noticed that if the nest does contain a
dead chick, the possibility of a fox discovering it
is vastly increased owing to the smell emitted by
the defunct nestling. If eggs are late in hatching
the cock bird will take charge of chicks ready to
leave the nest, and hover them close at hand
while his mate endeavours to bring off the late
eggs. Should a dead chick be in the nest, its
smell becoming stronger with each hour that
passes, readers will understand the risk run by the
whole family.

During cold, wet, and unfavourable weather the
parent partridges are sometimes reluctant to leave
the nest with their brood, although the latter may
long have been fit to run ; but if they do remain it
is at great risk, as readers will gather after having
perused what has been v/ritten.

Another reason for a fox discovering a nest at
hatching time is that the sitting bird becomes
restless as chicks begin to emerge, sits higher on
the nest, ruffles her feathers, and is altogether
plainer to be seen. A partridge breeding for the
first time is even more restless than an older bird
which has already passed through a similar

Protecting Nests ami Sitting Birds, 9

I
experience ; these young hens therefore suffer
more from foxes, and their nests are more Hkely
to be destroyed. /

Before proceeding further the author wishes to
commend highly the plan cf mapping out the
exact position of every nest which can be found.
Each keeper is provided with a tracing of his beat
taken from an ordnance map of the district,
together with a notebook, is instructed to find
all the nests possible, and mark their locality
on the map. His next duty is to ascertain when
each bird commences to sit, and to jot down this
information in the book ; then he will be in a
position to determine when every nest of which he
knows will hatch, and able to afford it protection
at the critical period. Before this occurs no
extra precautions need be taken, although the
nests should be visited occasionally to determine
that all is right, in case vermin may be stealing ,
eggs. However, too much interference should
not be allowed, or a track will be made leading to
the nest, of which a cunning old fox may at once
take advantage. The keeper, too, should bear in
mind that when visiting nests his actions may be
watched by human egg-stealers, who are quite
cute enough to profit by his pauses to examine
nests. This last remark is made because losses

lo Game and Foxes.

of eggs through poaching have before now been
ascribed to foxes.

The best way of protecting nests when the
hatching period does arrive must now be con-
sidered, and as all partridges bring off their
chicks from first nests within a few days of each
other, the keeper in charge will have a rather
busy time. There is much to be said for the
tainting fluids now so generally used for sprinkling -
round nests, from asafoetida to gas-tar, and
especially for the best and most effective of all
\ which is sold under the name of " Renardine."
This was the first on the market, and still retains
its position of superiority. It possesses a vile,
tenacious odour : so much so that, to employ an
Americanism, "it grabs the atmosphere and
monopolises it to the extinction of all other
smells." Its efficacy rests in the fact that the
scent of a sitting bird (if any exists) is drowned ;
a passing fox can never detect her presence by
aid of nose alone, and it is on this organ he
principally relies. Should a fox see her no
tainting fluid in the world will prevent his trying
to seize her; but the chances of this occurring
are very remote. The bird on the nest does not
object in the least to the offensive odour of the
fluid, for a desertion owinor to it has never been

Protecting Nests and Sitting Birds. 1 1

known to occur; and, indeed, when she is so
near hatching it will take much more in the way
of interference to cause her to desert. In the
earher stages of nesting she more quickly takes
offence. It is useless to sprinkle the fluid on one
side of the nest only, for it is possible that a fox
may approach on the other and never smell the
odour if a wind is blowing from him over the nest.
Sprinkle it in a circle, in the centre of which is the
nest, and then the odour will meet him from
whichever direction he ventures to approach.
Whatever means of protecting a nest are preferred
or employed, this fluid should always be used as
an accessory, because it drowns all smell arising
from the shells as the chicks hatch. Do not
forget that a heavy rain washes the fluid into the
ground and destroys its power, so in a wet time
frequent renewal is necessary. Sun and heat, on
the other hand, develop its odour, and render it
more potent than ever.

At one time game-preservers were advised to
surround each nest with a small ring or fence of
wire-netting of four-inch mesh, through which the
bird might escape if a fox dashed at her ; but
wherein rests the advantage ? If a fox fails on
the first attempt he will try again, and the bird
is eventually caught or forced to desert. It is

12 Game and Foxes.

useless to take such measures as this, for if a fox
cannot be prevented discovering a nest all else is
futile. He is not in the least afraid of wire-netting ;
and how can a circle of such material be fixed
round every nest in the centre of a fence and
other awkward positions ? The labour involved
would be enormous.

A favourite device of old-fashioned keepers was
to place near each nest old traps, chains, plough-
shares, or any iron article of at all complicated-
looking pattern. These were efficient as a pro-
tection, but a hundred nests would need a cart-
load or more of such articles, which collection
would be difficult to move and hardly obtainable.
For a few nests, sufficient may be available, but
such a protective measure is not easy to adopt
widely.

Human urine is as satisfactory a protection as
anything to a nest about to hatch, and no fox will
dare to go near it, but its influence does not last
longer than one night. If stale the urine is more
effective, and it may be employed with every
confidence in the absence of other protective
fluid.

It is a pity the merits of luminous paint in the
game preserve are not more widely known and
acknowledged, for here is a protective medium

ProtectiNo- Nests and Sifttno- Birds. 13

.^ .,^.,.0 ...... ^....,c^

easy to apply, cheap to procure, and It has been
found most valuable and reliable wherever tried.
It Is very simple to use, for all that Is required
are a few round pieces of flat tin, about four
inches In diameter, fastened to short pegs which
may be fixed in the ground so that the discs stand
at about the level of a fox's nose. These circles
of tin should be treated with luminous pamt upon
one side only, and from one to three will be
required for each nest. They are light to carry,
and their luminous properties are retained for at
least one season. One will be sufficient to guard
a nest beside and close to a wall or stack, two
(one on each side) will be required for a nest In a
fence, and three should be fixed at Intervals round
a nest in the open. Each one should be placed
with the luminous side from the nest, and then the
bird will not be in the least alarmed. By day they
will be just plain white circles, but quite sufficient
to scare any fox which ventures abroad by day,
and at night will glow with a strong phosphor-
escent light which Reynard can never muster up
sufficient pluck to venture near. Luminous paint
is a protection which can be highly recommended
as cheap, simple to use, and most successful,
and every keeper should utilise it in the nesting
season. In fact, the discs described are as

14 Game and Foxes.

efficacious as lighted lanterns, and require no
trimming or other tedious attention.

The excrement of a sitting bird has been known
to prove the salvation of a nest. This Is of a very
foul nature, and Is generally dropped before the
bird has progressed far when leaving the nest to
feed. A dog passing along the side of a
fence containing a nest has been noticed to
diverge, leave the side of the fence, and go several
yards Into the field, attracted by excrement of
this description, afterwards returning to the fence
lower down. The dog thus follows a semi-
circular course for a short space, which takes it
out of scenting distance of the nest. The tracks
of foxes on arable land beside a hedge containing
a nest show that they act in a similar manner to
the dog, but some keepers are of opinion that the
sitting bird's excrement brings about the ruin of a
nest if a cunning old fox passes that way. The
latter recognises what it Is, and forthwith hunts
the neighbourhood closely till the wretched bird is
found and seized.

There is not the slightest doubt that some
birds, both pheasants and partridges, have the
misfortune to give off a stronger scent than others
of their kind ; or perhaps their nests are In
positions which admit of scent being more widely

Protecting Nests and Sitting Birds. \ 5

diffused around. When this is suspected a
keen-nosed retriever, or, better still, setter, will
prove of the greatest use. The keeper should
pass close by the nest with the dog at heel, and
watch for the slightest manifestation that it scents
game ; should a dog smell the bird a fox is certain
to do so. There are keepers intent on doing their I
best who never feel satisfied that a nest is '
properly protected and the scent of the sitting
bird drowned till a setter has passed and re-
passed without detecting it.

A writer in "Country Life" some time ago
advocated putting down a few yards of wire
netting, extending at right angles from the fence
both above and below a nest, this having the
effect of turning a fox out of its course and away
from the vicinity of the nest. Such a plan is
hardly practicable in a field containing horses or
cattle, and would be sure to cause trouble.

If a nest is near the outside of a wide fence, or
the centre of a narrow one, it is an excellent plan
to implant a few bushes so that the hedge at this
point is made wider and thicker ; then passing
dogs and foxes are kept at a greater distance.
These bushes may be added one or two at a time
when the bird has been sitting ten days or so, as
she will not then readily take offence. There is

1 6 Game and Foxes.

no better plan than this of safeguarding a nest in
a bunch of nettles, thistles, tuft of grass, &c.,
which is in danger of being trampled underfoot by
cattle in an open field.

A certain keeper in Leicestershire is most
successful in saving his partridge nests from
destruction, although in the centre of one of the
most fashionable hunts, and in a country teeming
with foxes, and not too much game for them to
live upon. He carefully watches each nest for
the critical hatching period to arrive, and then at
night places beside each a lump of dried cowdung,
which is set on fire. This smoulders all through
the hours of darkness, shows a faint glow, and
yields quite a small continuous cloud of smoke.
The cowdung for this purpose he collects from
feeding cattle in winter, and it is carefully uried
and stored away for use. Should it not smoulder
freely it is dipped in a weak solution of saltpetre
and water and again dried. A slight wind only
serves to make it even better, but if rain should
be falling the dung must be placed beneath a
slate, ridge-tile, or other shelter. It is a 4 old fox
which will approach near this smouldering dung,
and it would be a simple matter to add something
which would enable it to emit a much more
powerful odour. Probably lots of readers will be

Protecting Nests and Sitting Birds. i 7

i^lad to adopt this idea, but they are advised not to
carry it out near heather, dry grass, or any crop of
an inflammable nature, or a general blaze may result.
A suggestion has been made that, as a means
of decoying a fox from a fence or other spot at
which a lot of nests are located, something in the
way of food should be placed close by, such as a
dead pigeon, rat, or rabbit. A vixen having a
litter is of all foxes the most assiduous hunter, and
on finding the meal laid ready for her she at once
makes off with the prize to her earth. On the
face of it this appears a valuable suggestion, but
the author happens to be acquainted with an
energetic keeper who practised it with anything
but success. He had a thick bit of hedge a few
score yards in length which several pairs of part-
ridges had adopted as a nesting site. A vixen
passed near it almost every evening, and a dead
rabbit was put down for her, to induce her to
return and not go too close to the hedge. It had
good effect for a time, but the vixen learned to
look for this regular meal, and what was first done
as an experiment became compulsory. ^^wq
morning the keeper found two nests ruined,
although he had not omitted to provide the
customary rabbit, and after a thorough investi-
gation arrived at a conclusion that the nightly feed

C

1 8 Game and Foxes.

had attracted other foxes, which took it before the
vixen arrived. As a result, she hunted the vicinity
more closely than ever with a hope of finding it,
and discovered the sitting birds. A better plan
would have been to place the rabbit so as to
intercept the vixen before she reached the fence
in question, but some considerable distance from it
towards her earth. The dead rabbits, if continually
laid in one place, are also certain to entice vermin
to the spot, and if the nests are near it will be to
their danger.

Foxes are so much in the habit of running and
searching fences each night, especially when they
learn that sitting birds are to be had, that they
omit to range in the open ; for this reason a nest
in a tuft of grass, &c., in the centre of a large field is
generally in the safest spot. Such nests invari-
ably hatch, and the broods run, if not otherwise
disturbed. Hungarian and other foreign partridges
are accustomed to nesting on the open plains,
taking advantage of any means of concealment
there happens to be, and several seasons may
elapse before they consent to nest in fences when
introduced into this country. In nearly every case
they lay in the open, in all sorts of unexpected
places, and their nests are missed by the foxes ;
therefore, the release of a few pairs on an estate

Protect I ng Nests and Sitting Birds. 19

troubled by foxes often results in a welcome
increase of game, and it is beneficial to turn
down these birds. Strangers unaccustomed to
open downlands, where a hedge is perhaps not
to be seen for miles, are often astonished at the
number of partridges to be met with in such a
country, and wonder where they breed. All nest
in the open as described, and foxes do not get a
chance to interfere with them. In an inclosed
country, by confining his attention to the fences,
Reynard may happen to find a large majority of
the nests, but it is beyond possibility that every
foot of the spacious downland can be hunted, and
a big percentage consequently escape his inter-
ference. Matters work oat exactly the same as
regards other vermin, and this explains the presence
of the good stocks of birds so frequently seen on
the open downs and fens.

During a dry season, when grazing is scarce,
cattle are often the indirect cause of nests being
destroyed in the fences. Being short of grass
they bore right into the hedges, eating every
weed and tender shoot within reach, and laying
nests perfectly bare to the eye, let alone the keen
nose of a fox. In a season when this is to be
anticipated, precautions to avoid it should be
observed, and if the surrounding herbage is

C 2

20 Game and Foxes.

sprinkled with some noxious fluid it will be left
severely alone by the cattle.

It Is to be regretted that the old-fashioned
wide fences, w^hlch often encroached to the extent
of yards Into a field at places, and yielded the
best and safest of nesting accommodation, are
now fast giving w'ay to narrow, closely- clipped
hedges. In fact. In some districts live fences are
rapidly disappearing In favour of those constructed
of wire, for farming has been in such straits that
it has become necessary to utilise every foot of
ground, and there is no room for waste. On
many farms fences are not considered necessary
between cultivated fields, and such have been
grubbed up and dispensed with altogether ; this
has had the result of concentrating nests in the
few fences that are available, and of driving birds
to the roadside, where hedges must still be main-
tained. It cannot be said that wire fences are as
good for game as live hedges, if only because of
the number of birds killed by dashing against
them, but barbed-wire fences are better for nesting
than those composed of plain wire. Cattle learn
to respect the sharp barbs, and beneath and
around the bottom strand of wire springs up a
wealth of herbage which they dare not attempt
to graze off. Amongst this a partridge may nest

Protecihig Nests and Sitting Birds, 21

in perfect safety, and even a fox dreads to make
a dash at her, for he, too, may have had a taste
of the barbs in his pelt. The author was once
shooting upon an estate in Scotland, a large area
of which was divided into inclosures by means of
barbed wire strained on posts five inches square.
At the bottom a couple of strands had been nailed
on each side of the posts, one six inches above
the ground and the other at a height of a foot ;
between these nettles and other rough herbage
grew, and therein the partridges nested in peace
and safety from disturbance by cattle, and in
nearly every instance from interference by foxes.
Tar applied to the wire about nesting time would
probably have additional good effect. This is an
excellent plan of providing nesting accommo-
dation in a district Avhich would otherwise be
almost devoid of it.

In a stonewall country nests escape destruction
which would certainly be found by foxes if hedges
were in the place of the walls. Reynard nearly
always passes along a wall on one favourite side,
and a nest on the other escapes detection by him ;
but when he traverses a hedge there is nothing to
prevent the scent of it reaching his nostrils. A
fox is also very fond of running along the top
of a low wall, and if this is his habit there is no

2 2 Game and Foxes.

risk to nests at its foot. Nevertheless, when a fox
does discover a nest at the foundation of a wall
there is little chance of the bird eluding him, as
the wall is an obstacle in her way, and she is
obliged to fly upward or directly over her enemy.
It is a very slow fox indeed which is not able to
seize a bird under these conditions. Should a
partridge be sitting on one side of a fence she is
able to pop through to the opposite side, and thus
get away. A bird which has been sitting on a nest
for many hours is not always in a fit condition
to make best use of legs or wings as a means of
escape ; she is more or less stiff, and this gives
the fox a great advantage over her. Those readers
who have noticed the cramped, helpless state of a
fowl when suddenly removed from a nest on which
she has been sitting will recognise the truth of
this statement.

The loving attention of a cock partridge for his
mate often saves the latter from a fox, for the
male bird is seldom far distant while the hen is
sitting, and at night watches a few feet away.
Should a fox pass close by it is the cock's part to
simulate a wounded bird, and so decoy Reynard
for some distance beyond. This the bird is ready
to do, and his cleverness frequently saves a nest
from destruction.

Protecting Nests and Sitting Birds. 23

When a partridge has hatched her eggs and
taken the hrood away most people would say that
nothing further is necessary, but there is still
great danger of a fox securing the lot, especially
if an old and cunning one. As before stated, the
shells left in the nest give forth a very strong
odour, and a fox on finding them must know that
a brood has but recently gone. He also knows
that the little family cannot at that stage be far
away, and at once sets to work systematically to
hunt the neighbourhood till the brood is found.
What occurs then is easily imagined, for the
author has known this to happen on several
occasions. In some cases, too, a partridge is
given to returning to her nest with her chicks at
night, particularly if it be wet or cold, and she
runs a tremendous risk while spending the hours
of darkness near a lot of stinking shells, or in a
nest containing, perhaps, a dead chick in the first
stages of decomposition. For this reason every
vestige of shell and any dead chicks should be
removed, and all traces of the nest erased. This
is a precaution few know, and of which fewer
still take advantage.

The author once had a unique opportunity of
watching the actions of a fox which had found a
brood of pheasants. The hen in an endeavour to

24 Game and Foxes.

decoy him away fluttered along the ground as if
hurt, and Reynard promptly followed till both
went out of sight over a bank. This manoeuvre
on the part of the mother bird appeared to have
been a success, and the watcher was about to
leave his hiding-place when the fox came trotting
back. He knew th? chicks were scattered in the
grass at the spot where the hen was first seen, and
he '' nosed " around till each had been found and
devoured. One would have thought he would now
have been content, but further proof of his devilish
cunningwas forthcoming. Crouching out of sight m
the herbage he lay perfectly still for over a quarter
of an hour, and then the peevish call of the hen
pheasant for her chicks could be heard plainer
and plainer as she approached. At last she came
within reach, and would have been seized like the
rest had the fox not been scared at the critical
moment. Reynard knew full well that the faithful
mother bird would return to the spot where she
left her little ones, and that he had only to be
patient and wait. Could an instance of greater
cunning on the part of a fox be quoted ?

Where scares of a mechanical nature are
employed for frightening foxes, the old adage that
** familiarity breeds contempt " should not be for-
gotten. The eflficacv of such scares rests in their

Protecting Nests and Sitting Birds. 25

strangeness, and a fox will brave them all when
he becomes accustomed to them. Therefore,
change the scare every few days, or alter it in
some way, if it is expected to remain effective.

Every method of protecting a partridge nest
which has been advised is just as useful for safe-
guarding that of a pheasant, although the latter,
bird has not been quoted so often, for partridges
are the real anxiety in a hunting country.
Pheasants are so easily reared by hand that the
contents of nearly all their nests are collected for
home hatching, and certainly those from nests
in situations at all risky. Few are allowed to
remain to need protection, but where such is
necessary those means suggested for partridge
nests may be adopted with all confidence.

It should act as a spur to a keeper when he
reflects that all he does to protect nests from foxes
is equally useful in saving them from ordinary
keen-nosed vermin, and also from stray dogs.
He should not forget that a nest which may :
escape a fox is likely to be interfered with by ,
stoats or rats, and therefore each one must ;
receive attention.

Although by persistent care partridges may
be protected during the nesting period, the broods
are still in danger from foxes. A brood trailing

26 Game and Foxes.

through the grass after the parent birds not only
leaves traces which a cunning old fox will
recognise and follow out, but the scent left is also
much stronger than it would be were the old
partridges unaccompanied. However, as regards
protecting the broods till they are able to fly the
keeper is helpless, and he can only hope there will
be tall, dense crops in which the little things may
hide.

CHAPTER III.

USINCx ARTIFICIAL EGGS.

He who understands how to use artificial eggs
may prevent a lot of losses w^here foxes have to
be reckoned with, for by their aid both partridges
and pheasants may be induced to choose safer
sites for their nests. The latter birds adopt a
nest in which they find one or two artificial eggs
with the greatest certainty, and quite seventy-five
per cent, of partridges may be trusted to do
likewise. However, to secure perfect success it
is necessary to obtain artificial eggs, which are
perfect imitations of real ones as regards colour,
shape, size, and weight. The gamekeeper uses
these eggs, to prevent his pheasants straying away
to lay, by forming nests containing one or two in
all fences which the birds are likely to run
alongside when making off from the coverts ; but
it is not necessary to describe here the many uses
to which they may be put in the game preserve.
Nests intended to attract pheasants should be

28 Game and Foxes.

formed a few feet from the sides of rides, paths,
&c., intersecting: the coverts, from which they
may easily be seen by the birds ; also in fences
surrounding a covert. Pheasants are fond of
nesting close to a track, and, if nests are made in
number according to the birds a covert contains,
few will go outside to lay. These artificial nests
save a lot of labour in searching, and as the
keeper knows where each is it is easy for him to
protect them from foxes. If several hens do
happen to lay in one nest this only facilitates the
collection of the eggs necessary for home hatch-
ing. Should no artificial nests be made to attract
the pheasants to lay in certain spots they will
nest where they like, and it will be a clever keeper
who finds all ; some nests are sure to escape even
his keen sight, and the first evidence of the latter
which greets his eye may be feathers and shells
strewn all over the place, proving that a fox is
the better searcher.

If a few pheasants be desired to produce
broods at liberty the keeper should arrange
artificial nests in places where a fox is unlikely to
find them, and where they may at little trouble be
protected against that contingency. However
carefully he conceals such nests a pheasant hen is
nearly certain to discover each one and adopt it ;

Using Artificial Eggs. 29

and this goes to prove how keenly the bird
searches for a nesting site.

Artificial eggs have long been used in con-
nection with pheasants, but only during recent
years has their value for partridges received
partial recognition. The liking of a partridge for
nesting on the fringe of a thick hedge, when she
would be far safer in the centre, is peculiar but
beyond dispute ; and her discovery by a fox at
such a spot is difficult to prevent, because he is so
close.

When partridges mate each pair takes up a
certain plot of ground on which the birds intend
to nest, and when one pair is noticed to occupy
continually a field, or part of a field, it is a
certainty that they will remain there to breed if
not driven away. Having located a pair the
keeper should select the most dense portion of
an adjacent fence, and right in the centre form
a saucer-like depression with a shaped rammer;
in it two artificial partridge eggs must be placed
on a few dead leaves or a little dry grass. This
should be done about the second week in April,
or earlier or later according to the forwardness of
the season and of the locality. Leave the eggs
fully exposed and visit the spot every two or three
days to see what has happened. When the

30

Game and Foxes,

partridges discover the nest they promptly cover
over the eggs it contains, although they may not
lay to them for several days. But, once the eggs
are noticed to be concealed, the nest is sure to be
adopted unless the unforeseen occurs. A little
dari seed or buckwheat scattered beside an artificial
nest will help to attract a pair of partridges near
enough to see it, especially if laid in short trails
across the fields on each side of the fence. In
this way partridges may be induced to nest in
places of greater safety than those they too often
select.

It is most important to remove artificial eggs
from a nest as soon as the partridge has laid
about six of her own to them, and under no
circumstances should they be allowed to remain
when the bird commences to sit, as they exercise
a peculiar Influence over the live eggs. Being
made of glass or china they do not absorb much
heat from the bird, and also quickly cool down to
a very low temperature when the sitting partridge
leaves her nest to feed ; the eggs resting against
them are affected, become cold also, and their
fertility Is impaired. And this is not the only
danger. As stated elsewhere, when a brood of
partridges hatches irregularly the first chicks to
leave the shell are taken charge of by the cock

[7si//i^^ Artificial Eggs 31

bird, who hovers them a Httle distance away while
the hen stays to dry off belated chicks and hatch
belated eggs. This excellent habit of hers
explains the reason unhatched eggs are so seldom
found in a nest after she has left it with her brood.
A pheasant, on the other hand, is inclined to go
off with the first strong chicks to appear, and
leave belated eggs to their fate. Should artificial
eggs be permitted to remain in a nest, the partridge
stays longer than she should in an endeavour
to hatch them, and not only will the brood suffer
for this delay, but risk of their being snapped up
by foxes increases with every hour.

It is unnecessary to say more to show that by
skilful use artificial eggs may be rendered of great
value in a hunting country, for game birds may be
decoyed to nest where the keeper considers they
will hatch with less risk of disturbance by foxes,
and with a little practice and experience endless
methods of utilising them will suggest themselves
to him.

CHAPTER IV.

FOXES AND THE REARING FIELD.

Every gamekeeper would be happier were his
pheasants at all stages of their existence pro-
tected from foxes as easily as they are while on
the rearing field, but this is out of the question,
for at a certain age the birds must be allowed
their liberty in the coverts if they are to afford
good sport. However, with the exercise of due
care, the rearer w^ho has his broods destroyed by
foxes on the rearing field is, unless the circum-
stances be exceptional, very much to blame.

The most popular and effective method of

excluding foxes from the rearing field is to erect

wire netting, enclosing it to a height of from six to

eight feet, and this requires to be put up in correct

style, or it will be of little effect for the purpose

'J intended. Six-feet netting is hardly high enough,

\\ and nothing less than^eight feet is recommended,

I two feet of this being bent over outwards at a

sharp angle, and held in that position by iron rods

Foxes and the Rearing Field. 33

attached to the posts to which the netting is fixed.
A fox will not be able to clamber over this fence,
the overhanging width proving an insurmountable
barrier, even if he is able to climb up to it.
Nothing but netting of strong gauge should be
utilised, for a persevering fox has by aid of his
teeth been known to tear his way through weaker
material. The mesh must be four-inch, because
this will admit of the pheasants passing in and
out of the enclosure as long as they remain on the
field, and save the trouble of lifting the netting at
the bottom to re-admit any which have happened
to fly over. Good stout posts, not more than
twelve feet apart, should hold up the netting,
and six inches of the latter must be let into the
ground. This is best done by turning a furrow
with a plough to that depth all round the circum-
ference of the fence ; the wire may then be put to
the bottom, and the furrow turned back and
trodden in place. It is very necessary to stretch
the netting tightly between the posts, especially
if the overhanging width at the top is dispensed
with, because it is at places where the netting
sags inwards that a fox makes a dash and scrambles
over. Very few know how to stretch netting
tightly, so it will be advisable to describe the
process. Neatly staple it to the posts in the

D

34

Game and Foxes.

ordinary way, and when a length of fifty yards or
so is in place, go over it in the following manner.
Place a stake through a bottom mesh and stand on
it ; then with another stake put in a mesh opposite,
press your hardest, and if this is done at intervals
between the posts the netting should be as
tight as a drum, and perfectly rigid. All posts
should be inside, because, if rough and outside, a
fox may use them as aids to climbing over. A
fox is occasionally keen enough to jump and jump
at wire-netting till he gets it to sag sufficiently to
allow him to work his way over, and if one is
suspected of this trick it is an excellent plan to
stretch a single strand of wire on sticks a foot
from the ground, and six feet or so from the fence.
Reynard will not detect the presence of this
wire in the dark, and it will trip him up each
time he essays a running jump. Two wires such
as described, a yard or thereabouts apart,
will be even more effective. Should the fence
be low, a wire as suggested must always be
provided, for it will prevent Reynard taking the
running jump necessary to land him on the
other side. It is much more difficult for a fox to
clamber up wire netting of large mesh ; his toe-
nails catch in small meshes and afford him a
firm grip, but his legs slip right through big

Foxes a7id the Rearing Field. 35

meshes, and he is fortunate to escape severe injury
if attempting it. Where a fox does contrive to
break into a rearing-field fenced in, the netting
enables him to do far greater damage, particularly
if the birds are beginning to use their wings.
In their terror they run and fly against the
netting, do not seek to go further, crouch at its
bottom, and the fox simply snaps them up as he
follows it round. For this reason alone a watch-
man must be present every night, as, however
good the fence, there is always danger of a fox
scratching beneath it, and in that way gaining
entrance to the field. Too often the conviction
that he has a fox-proof fence round his broods
causes a rearer to consider watching at night an
unnecessary trouble ; but he who has once experi-
enced the holocaust of which a fox that does
force an entrance is capable will not be easy
again in his bed under similar circumstances.
Foxes are not frightened at wire netting as they
were when it first appeared and its use was
limited. At the present time it is to be seen in
greater or lesser quantity on every farm, and
Reynard no longer entertains dread of going near
it ; in fact, he regards it much as a schoolboy does
a locked door between himself and a well-stocked
pantry — as an obstacle to be surmounted if possible.

D 2

36 Game and Foxes.

Should a rearer not be in a position to provide
a wire-netting fence for his field, he must make
use of such means of protection against foxes as
are at his disposal, and every dog he possesses
should be put on guard. Now, it is impossible to
have dogs loose about the rearing-field, even at
night, when the broods may be closed in their
coops, for there are no means of insuring that
they shall not wander off in the darkness on
business of their own. Every keeper who takes
the trouble to examine the ground in the vicinity
of his kennels when snow covers it knows that
chained dogs are no terror to foxes, for tracks of
the latter may often be seen but a few feet distant
from the farthest limit the chain permits a dog to
reach. There is only one way of overcoming this
difficulty, and it is to peg down a stout wire a few
score yards in length. To this the dog must be
fastened with a short piece of chain, at the end of
which is a ring to run up and down the wire.
Place the dog's kennel at one end of the wire and
his drinking pan at the other, and this will cause
him to patrol his beat more regularly. The value
of this system rests in the fact that if a fox
appears the dog is able to dash after him to the
full limit allowed by the wire, and that is quite
enough to make Reynard believe the dog free to

Foxes and the Rearing Field, 37

chase him. If sufficient dogs are available an
entire ring may encircle the field, and they will
ser\^e to keep each other on the alert. Probably,
a sharp fox terrier is as good a watch as any dog.

If alarm-guns are placed at intervals round a
rearing field, the wires connected therewith ex-
tended so as to encompass it, and fixed at a
height of about fifteen inches, no fox can enter
without exploding one. Reynard is very unlikely
to remain after the report, and should he be so
bold, the watcher has been warned. Alarm-guns
are little trouble to set, and they ought to be
used for protecting the rearing-field to a far
greater extent than they are.

Another method of excluding foxes from the
rearing-field, although not absolutely reliable, is
by free use of tainting fluids to which they have
an antipathy. Foxes do not like strange, offensive
odours, and generally make off from their neigh-
bourhood. The best method of protecting a field
after this fashion is to put sticks about three feet
long in the ground, at eight feet intervals. Stretch
two strings on these, one fifteen inches from the
ground and the other on top of the sticks. Keep
the strings dressed with the fluid, and few foxes
will dare to venture near. The best and cheapest
string is that used in harvesters and binders for

^8 • Game and Foxes.

tying corn into sheaves, as it is of a rough nature
and freely absorbs the fluid. After heavy rain
the strings require re-dressing, as much of the
fluid wiU have been washed off. Do not mind
some dripping upon the ground as it is being
appHed.

Luminous paint may also be used with satis-
factory results on the rearing-field, discs to which
it has been applied being fixed at vulnerable
points. Some keepers paint faces with it upon
the shutters of every coop, and it must be
confessed these are rather ghastly in appearance
on a dark night. Lighted lanterns are also useful
scares, but their position needs to be frequently
changed, and if allowed to swing in the wind at
the end of a string they are more effective.

Upon a rearing-field where foxes were feared I
once saw a rather ingenious scare, and one which
any rearer can easily provide. It consisted of a
square lantern fitted on each side with a frame of
coloured glass — red, blue, green, and white. This
lantern was hung on a meat-jack, such as is used
for roasting a joint in front of a kitchen fire.
When the jack was wound up the lantern revolved
and continually flashed coloured lights over the
field. A powerful acetylene motor lamp is also a
valuable accessory at night on a rearing-field, as

Foxes and the Rearing Field. 39

it may be used as a searchlight, to ascertain the
cause of any disturbance detected by the watcher.

It is a question if a light and portable electric
apparatus could not be devised to scare foxes
from the rearing-field, as a very slight shock on
touching a wire w^ould be quite sufficient to drive
one away. This ought to be easy of accomplish-
ment, and the suggestion is commended to
electricians, for such an apparatus would meet
with a ready sale.

Whatever scares and means of protection
against foxes are employed, it never does to place
too great dependence in them, for Reynard has a
bad habit of springing surprises on one, and, as
before stated, a watcher should be within hearing
in case of emergency. A man for watching during
the hours of darkness requires careful selection,
for if he cannot be relied upon to keep awake
he will be worse than useless, and the rearer
must get rid of the idea that a man can work
by day and watch by night. The dual duty is
impossible, and the rearer who expects it courts
disaster. A man possessing perfect hearing
powers, not given to drink, and who will rest by
day, is the man for night-work, for there are men
who will not retire to bed by day if they get the
chance. The hours of darkness are not many

40 Game and Foxes.

during the rearing season, and once day breaks
half the danger from foxes has passed. The best
watcher at night on a rearing-field the author ever
knew was perfectly bhnd, and because of that his
every other faculty was rendered more keen.
This man would detect the rustling of a fox in the
grass long before it became apparent to an
ordinary individual, and not the slightest flutter of
a bird escaped his ear. For many years he
enjoyed regular summer employment as a watcher
at night on the rearing-field, and not once when
he was present did a fox get unnoticed amongst
the birds. Where the services of such a watch-
man can be secured he may be employed with the
greatest confidence.

A watcher intent on listening for tokens of a
fox's presence should remain perfectly quiet ; it is
an ordinary practice for a man thus engaged to
keep shouting or blowing a horn, but from
constantly hearing these sounds a fox becomes
accustomed to them and treats them with
contempt. It is a far better plan to keep still, and
shout or blow a horn only when it is thought or
known that a fox is at hand. The sudden noise
and alarm are sure to cause him to beat a hasty
retreat. Foxes are at times very persistent, and
the author has actually chased one from coop to

Foxes and the Rearing Field. 41

coop at night, unable to drive it away in the semi-
darkness ; but those which go this length are half-
tame cubs turned down after having been hand-
fed. Such are creative of more grievances on the
part of shooting men than all the wild foxes
in existence.

CHAPTER V.

HAND-REARED PHEASANTS IN COVERT.

The real time of anxiety for the rearer is the
period after the young pheasants have been
removed to covert, and before they resort regularly
to roost each night. For a time following upon
removal the birds are certain to juk in the grass,
and if a fox finds them while indulging in this
lamentable practice he is in a position to thin
their ranks seriously. As it is not an easy matter
to detect his presence in, or drive him out of a
piece of thick covert at night, no precaution must
be neglected.

Upon an estate where foxes are to be feared the
broods are best retained on the rearing-field as
long as possible, so that they may become
thoroughly strong, able to fly into the trees, and
to some extent look after their own safety. Of
course, they cannot be kept on the field longer
than they can be confined in the coops, because of
the necessity of shutting them in for removal, but,

Hand-reared Pheasants in Covert. 43

for all this, they should not be taken to covert till
the last moment. During the final weeks the
pheasants are on the rearing-field it is a wise plan
to cut tall bushes and implant them amongst the
coops ; the birds learn to fly into these during the ,;
day, and afterwards more readily resort to roost ^
when removed to covert.

The rearer should endeavour to place his broods
in a piece of young covert containing trees of not
too large a size, the branches of which are easily
accessible from the ground. Under such circum-
stances they will soon fly to roost, but to put them
at first in a plot of tall covert is the way to make
them inveterate jukkers, and once they become
this it is only a matter of time before foxes secure
the larger number. Do not allow rabbit burrows
near to remain open, for these attract foxes to the
vicinity ; it is really wiser to taint every one, and
drive the occupants away, as rabbits invite stoats
and weasels in addition to foxes.

Neither is it advisable to transfer the broods
from the rearing-field to a covert too big, as one
of not more than a few acres with a clear space
all round is much safer in every way and more
easily guarded. The rides on which the young
pheasants feed should be wide, and the under-
growth near must be well cut back so that it will

44

Game and Foxes.

not afford concealment behind which a fox may
creep up and seize feeding birds. The covert,
too, is better devoid of thick grass and bushes,
because the former invites the birds to juk instead
of roost, and the latter to roost within reach of a
fox which is cunning enough to stand on his hind
legs or leap for a supper. Whatever is done,
some of the birds cannot be prevented jukking for
a night or two after removal, and a keeper has
been heard to say that it is a good plan to
sprinkle everv one with some tainting fluid. This
is done when each brood is released from its coop
the morning after removal, a man being at hand
with a sprayer to spray the birds as they emerge.
Such a plan may be successful in so far that it
would render the birds less easily scented by
a fox.

When hand-reared pheasants are in covert the
last feed of the day should be supplied early in
the evening, that there may be plenty of time for
them to try and get to roost. Too frequently, the
final feed is delayed under an impression that if it
is given early the birds may stray off; but they
will not try to go to roost till they have been
fed, and absolutely refuse to make their first
attempts in either partial or entire darkness.
Their safety from foxes at night entirely depends

I land-reared Pheasants in Covert. 45

upon roosting, and birds fed too late seldom fly to
roost.

During the last hour of light a covert containing
the birds must be kept perfectly free from intru-
sion, no one even venturing to pass along the
rides, for it is most unwise to disturb the young
pheasants while making their first essays to roost.
Once one or two commence to fly into the trees
others soon follow, and the whole batch will be at
roost in a few evenings. It is also advisable to
give some of the more active fowls their liberty
from the coops, as they show no hesitation in
flying to roost amongst the trees, and tempt the
broods to follow their good example.

It has been noticed that if a fox does get
amongst a batch of pheasants jukking in covert,
kill some and thoroughly frighten the rest, that
the birds fear to risk such another experience, and
strive their utmost to get to roost the succeeding
night. This knowledge has encouraged some
keepers in hunting districts to muzzle a spaniel
and well hunt a covert in which a large majority
are suspected of jukking, and those rearers who
have done this assert that the birds will not again
juk, and it is seldom necessary to use the dog on
a second occasion. As this is a proceeding of
which the author has had no experience he

46 G a 7116 and Foxes.

suggests its adoption only with extreme caution,
because a disturbance at night amongst jukking
birds has been known to cause them to leave a
covert to spend the next night outside. On one
occasion the young pheasants resorted wholesale
to an adjacent field of corn, and the foxes followed
them up and played severe havoc amongst them
before their habit could be checked.

It is not advisable to feed growing pheasants
too liberally on maize, as this cereal has a
tendency to fatten unduly and render them heavy
and clumsy ; in fact, so lazy do they become that
they cease to fly to roost, and prefer to spend the
night on the ground, where they are in danger
from foxes. Maize has much to answer for with
reference to pheasants, and it would be better for
sport were it the most expensive instead of the
cheapest of grain.

At times it happens that for some reason young
pheasants cease for a short period to thrive after
removal to covert, and as ill-health causes
moping, a fox which discovers them in such
condition is able to destroy a large number of the
sickly birds. The latter, even when adult, will not
i^y to roost, and therefore everything possible
should be done to keep them in the pink of
condition. Healthy, birds are always on the qui

Hand-7'ea7'eci Pheasants in Covert. 47

vive^ and much more able to look after their own
safety than others in a sickly state. Losses from
foxes are often primarily attributable to neglect of
the birds' welfare, although it may be difficult to
make the reader believe this fact.

Rough, windy, wet nights are those most
dangerous to young pheasants in covert ; nights
when the noise of the storm and the clashing of
branches overhead enable a fox to creep about
unheard. Even on a still, but rainy night,
Reynard has a great advantage over jukking
birds, for every dead leaf and blade of grass are
wet, and do not rustle in the least as he searches
to and fro, hunting each inch of covert like a
well-trained setter. On such nights as these it
is doubly necessary for a keeper to be on the
alert in a fox-preserving district. The plumage
of the birds being rain-soaked, they make but a
poor attempt at frying on being disturbed, are
slow in getting on wing, and much more easily
caught when found. Their bodies, too, being
wet, steam is produced, and this being diffused
around causes the scent of a jukking bird to be
discernible over a larger area. When young
pheasants have taken to ikying to roost regularly,
the rearer considers them safe at night so far as
foxes are concerned, but if a violent wind arises

48 Game and Foxes.

he should be on the alert. At first the birds are
very insecure on their perches and easily blown
down, and should the branch they are occupying
sway to and fro they soon get giddy and fall to
the ground. The wind is also capable of blowing
them clean out of the trees ; once this has
happened the bird does not attempt to get up
again, but remains on the ground, perhaps dazed
by the fall. Hence the necessity of a watch
being maintained during a rough night, even if
the pheasants do fly to roost.

The fallacy that a fox is able to mesmerise a
pheasant on a tree and bring it to the ground is
a very foolish one, and yet it is widely believed.
The author has in daylight watched a fox gazing
at a pheasant which had seen him and flown
amongst the branches, but the bird did not lose
its head ; on the other hand, its loud cries were
a warning to every other within hearing, and
finally the fox moved off with a grapes-are-sour
kind of expression on his face. The statement
alluded to is about as possible as that advanced
in one of the comic papers, which caused some
amusement at the time. It was that a fox found a
pheasant on a tree, merely walked round in a circle,
and the bird in an attempt to follow the enemy's
movements with its gaze wrung its own neck.

Hand-reared Pheasants in Covert. 49

The author would strongly warn readers to be
careful concerning the nature of any non-straying
mixture they may be recommended to use. The
merits of some of these preparations are based on
the attractive flavour they impart to the grain
over which they are poured, but there are nostrums
sold which intoxicate the pheasants. While under
the influence of such a drug the bird certainly
cannot stray, upon the principle tliat a thoroughly
drunken and incapable man cannot move far ; but
no wide stretch of the imagination is needed to
picture what would occur should a lively fox get
amongst a batch of pheasants dazed beneath the
influence of a mixture such as described. A dog
even would do immense harm, and readers are
again advised to resort to the use of such
preparations only after due investigation.

Should young pheasants nearly matured be seen
about minus their tails, it is plain proof that foxes
are troubling them. A proportion of the birds a
fox attempts to capture he loses owing to his
grabbing their tails, which generally protrude from
any cover in which the birds are trying to
conceal themselves. A pheasant and its tail are
easily parted, and no further sign of what -is
going forward is necessary to an observant
keeper.

E

so

Game and Foxes.

It may appear a peculiar argument to advance,
but it is undoubtedly unwise for a rearer desirous
of producing pheasants in a hunting country to
resort for his eggs to an estate on which a fox is
never seen. In the Eastern Counties, where foxes
are not preserved, pheasants juk to a far greater
extent than they do elsewhere, as may be seen if
the ground is walked over by day or night, and the
instinct to roost is decidedly less marked. It is
only reasonable to suppose that what the parent
birds do is transmitted to their offspring, and that
chicks hatched from eggs procured from a non-
hunting district will grow into pheasants very
difficult to persuade to go to roost. Limited
experiments in the direction indicated have proved
this contention to have some foundation, so it is
advanced in all good faith.

Wild-bred pheasants are far more wary of foxes
than those hand-reared, and suffer far fewer
losses ; the latter have been protected by human
agency all through their youth, and when thrown
on their own resources after removal to covert are
foolish and devoid of the protective instinct which
the wild bird has imbibed from its parent. The
w>ld bird all through its youth ma) have had
experience of foxes, has run many risks, and
arrives at maturity fortified by knowledge of

Hand-reared Pheasants in Covert. 51

Reynard's cunning which the hand-reared bird has
yet to attain by experience.

Care should be taken to feed pheasants in
covert along a wide ride or on some open space,
because while engaged in feeding they are natu-
rally preoccupied, and it is a time when foxes take
toll of their numbers. Reynard is keen enough
to watch where the birds are fed, and continually
lurks round the feeding-places. The ordinary
style of feeding-stack cannot be too strongly
condemned, for birds feeding on one side of it are
perfectly at the mercy of a fox which creeps up
on the other side with the stack between him and
the birds ; he has only to dash round quickly and
seize one. All corn in the straw should be built
on staddles, this being a framework raised at least
two feet from the ground, so that birds feeding
are able to see beneath it. A stack built on
these, offers no means of concealment behind
which a fox may creep near and spring upon the
pheasants unawares.

Fowls brought to covert in coops with the
broods require protecting from foxes. They
are not likely to be attacked in the day-time,
unless under exceptional circumstances, and at
night it is an excellent plan to draw the fronts of
two coops close together; then the hens cannot

E 2

52

Game and Foxes.

poke their heads outside when a fox appears.
Directly Reynard comes on the scene an old hen
stretches her neck between the bars of her coop
in a vain effort to escape, and is at once seized ;
had she kept at the back she would have been
safe. Heavy coops, which a fox cannot move or
overturn, also assist in saving the fowls. It is
wiser to retain the hens in coops on the rides
till all the birds go to roost, as they attract the
notice of any fox venturing near, and give a
warning which cannot be disregarded. Should
a hen attacked fail to call out, the noise she
makes dashing about in the coop is sure to be
heard. Besides, the loss of a fowl or two will
not be a serious matter, and if pheasants are
saved thereby, the old biddies will have suffered
martyrdom in a good cause.

CHAPTER VI.

PARTRIDGE COVERTS AND FOXES.

In a work giving instructions how best to protect
game from foxes, and especially nesting game, it
would be folly to ignore the advantages of partridge
coverts, which are found most useful on the large
partridge estates in the Eastern Counties. There
they are provided for the sake of the nesting
accommodation they yield, and the cover they
afford for holding the birds, foxes being a negligible
quantity. Various are the ideas followed in plant-
ing these coverts, but with them the author has
nothing to do, as the covert he wishes to see in
a hunting country is designed to protect nesting
pairs from foxes, and if it is successful in this
regard the rest may be ignored.

It is not advisable to plant a partridge covert at
any spot, and if possible a site should be selected
to which the birds are partial at all times and
under ordinary circumstances ; choose some field
they are fond of frequenting, which is high and

54

Game and Foxes.

n

dry and of light soil, as dust for sitting birds is
most necessary. If they are not able to take a
dust-bath on leaving the nest vermin increase on
them to a great extent, owing to the birds' long
inaction while incubating. It is the dusting accom-
modation w^hich largely influences a partridge in
selecting a site for her nest, and this explains her
partiality for a roadside fence.

A tall, thick fence or belt of trees should be on
the north side, and along this the partridge covert
should be planted in one big strip from forty to
fifty feet wide. A square block may be preferable yj^^
for yielding cover from which to shoot the coveys,
but as partridges like to nest a few feet in from
the edge, a narrow strip is best when nesting
accommodation is the end for which the covert
has been provided.

The ground intended for the covert should be in
good condition, and must be ploughed and sown
barley or wheat in the ordinary way. When the
crop is up, and has been hoed, broom-seed
may be drilled with it. Do not harvest the corn,
but allow it to stand and be consumed by the
game, as the straw will protect the broom during
the first winter, when it often suffers a good deal
from frost if devoid of shelter. Rabbits and hares 1
must be strictly excluded, particularly the former, j

Partridge Coverts and Foxes. 55

as they are fond of nibbling young broom, and, if
numerous, will utterly destroy it.

When the covert is established, that is, when
sowing is finished, it will be necessary to provide
a fence, and this is not the least important matter.
Posts should be erected at least six feet high, and
wire-netting stretched on them in such a way that
it extends to the top and is buried a foot or more
in the ground. If dressed with tar the netting will
be more enduring, and the best way of doing this
is to dip it while rolled into a tank of tar, and
stand it aside for a few days to drip and dry. To
paint it w^hen erected is tedious work — very expen-
sive as regards labour and brushes. If the whole
of the netting cannot be dressed, that portion
intended to extend into the ground must be dipped
in tar or it is sure to rot before the rest. For
instructions how to erect the netting and stretch
it tightly refer to the chapter on the rearing-field.

Wire-netting for fencing in a partridge covert
should be of four-inch mesh and strongest gauge,
similar to that used for folding sheep. No fox can
break through this or clamber over it, and the
partridges \n\\\ be able to pass freely in and out.
Such a fence is practically perfection for this
purpose, and where a covert or two as described
are established they will be a means of defying

56 Game and Foxes.

foxes and Insuring good shooting, for partridges
soon find out where they are safe and resort there
for nesting from over a wide area.

The covert will require attention for some time,
and growths Hkely to swamp the broom during Its
first season must be kept down ; all that Is
necessary in future years will be to keep the
covert at an average height not exceeding two
feet. Partridges do not care for a plot of tall
broom, and prefer a short and not too dense
growth amongst which they are able to get about
easily. A scythe may be used to cut the broom
if this work is regularly done each year, but if
it Is neglected for a season or two the task will
be longer and a cutting-hook necessary. Clear
narrow footpaths here and there, and do not be
persuaded to substitute gorse for broom. Spruce
firs topped form an excellent covert, and an open
strip or two here and there to grow corn are
advantageous.

CHAPTER VII.

WATERFOWL AND FOXES.

From their habits it might be imagined that
waterfowl would be beyond the reach of foxes, but
the curiosity which impels these birds to follow a
little sandy dog up a decoy-pipe leads to their
falling a prey to a fox. Reynard does not mind a
cold bath in the least, if by risking it he may
obtain a tasty duck for supper, as he dearly loves
all waterfowl to eat. There is no surer find for
hounds than a covert encircling a lake or pond fre-
quented by waterfowl ; but a fox forced to leave
this comfortable spot is generally too fat to run
far. Reynard secures waterfowl in many ways,
his favourite plan being to lie perfectly still, hidden
in the undergrowth at the water's edge, and then
when the birds come swimming near to leap for
one and swim or wade out with it. To prevent
this sort of trickery rushes and undergrowth must
be cut back a good eight feet from the edge,
so that a hiding place is not to be found within

58 Game a7id Foxes.

jumping distance. With a clear space of this
width between cover and water a fox can secure
few duck, &c., although they are so fond of
feeding and lingering near the banks. Never
scatter feed, or allow any to exist, which will
tempt wildfowl to leave the water, for if the
birds are in the habit of doing this the fox will
secure more than a fair share. Waterfowl are
clumsier than most birds on land, and there they
are less able to elude a fox than when on their
favourite element.

It is a regular habit of waterfowl to leave
their day resorts at evening and flight to the
feeding places, these being cornfields, oak
coverts, or other spots where favourite provender
is abundant, and it is while feeding at such places
that they are thinned by foxes. To prevent losses
in this way see that there is no necessity for the
duck to leave every evening in search of feed, and
they will confine their flighting to a fiy round for
the sake of stretching their wings ; after this the
birds will settle down.

When nesting, duck suffer much from foxes,
for they are seldom content to nest close to the
water, or in rushes actually growing out of it, but
must w^ander hundreds of yards up a covert or into
adjacent fences. The nests in this case should be

Waterfowl and Foxes. 59

looked up and protected as advised for partridges
or pheasants. But the reader must remember
that a duck yields a more powerful scent, and the
risk of her detection by a fox is much greater.
Around a pond intended for duck a double row of
willows should be planted, and cut off at a height
of nine or ten feet ; if they are kept pollards the
crowns in a few years will become wide enough f
for a duck to nest therein, and the nests, if the i
trees do not lean, will be perfectly safe from \
foxes. There is no better method than this of
providing safe nesting accommodation for wild
duck.

Another plan to be recommended is the forma-
tion of a small island for nesting, as a fox rarely
cares to face a long swim even for a supper off
duck. The island need not be very big, as duck
are content to nest closely together, and it should
be planted with laurels and privet right to the
water's edge.

Hand-reared wild duck are much easier than
pheasants to protect from foxes, and the reader
obliged to have the latter on his shooting is
advised to go in for the former birds. They are
not difficult or expensive to rear, and if properly
managed afford excellent sport, while a large
expanse of water is by no means necessary to their

6o Game and Foxes.

preservation. A very small puddle or two will
suffice if the duck are fed judiciously.

It is a favourite device to pinion a few duck as
a means of inducing those full-winged to stay, but
such birds had not better be entirely deprived of
their flying powers, or they will only provide a meal
or two for the first fox which comes along. The first
joint of one wing only should be removed, and a
duck operated upon in this way will still be able to
fly a little, and even to mount high in the air, but
its course will be a circular one owing to one wing
being less powerful than the other. Such a bird
may join in the flights of the others as they fly
round and round, but will never attempt to go
straight off ; consequently it must remain as a
decoy to the full-winged duck. Ducks fully
pinioned must be removed from water liable to be
frozen over w^hen hard frost prevails. A big com-
pany of waterfowl will manage to keep a space
free from ice for a long time, but if the frost lasts
ice gradually encroaches on this open water, and
the fox gets his chance as it narrows. The full-
winged duck may be able to escape at any time,
and will probably desert a pond when this occurs,
but those pinioned are doomed if not already
caught and removed to a place of safety. The
fox may not take them all, but, frightened at his

Waterfowl and Foxes. 6i

close presence on the edge of the ice, the pinioned
duck dive beneath it and are drowned.

As a means of keeping duck at home during
a hard frost it is a frequent practice for the keeper
to break and remove some of the ice each evening
at dark ; but this should be done near the centre of
the pond and not at its edge. Should a space
be cleared at the edge the duck are tempted to
assemble there, and could be in no more dangerous
place for attack by a fox. Break the ice all round
the edges of a pond, if you like, as a means of pre-
venting a fox getting upon the big body of ice in
the centre, but clear a space in the middle for the
duck to occupy.

CHAPTER VIII.

MANGY FOXES AND GAME.

One mangy fox will do more towards making
shooting men detest foxes than a dozen clean and
healthy ones, for a fox afflicted in this way takes
risks and goes lengths to obtain food which the
others would not dare to venture. Besides, a
mangy fox indulges freely in that sort of destruc-
tion which is peculiarly hateful to a game preserver,
and the ruination of nests as long as they can be
found appears to be the chief aim of its existence.
Hunting men, in the interests of their own sport,
and for the sake of their shooting friends, should
•do their best to kill every fox displaying the
slightest sign of an attack of mange, for it will be
only a matter of time before the animal develops
into a perfect scourge. The greatest curse in
connection with a mangy fox is that its affliction
permits it little rest, and it is constantlv on the
hunt day and night. The destruction for which
it is responsible can hardly be realised except by

Mangy Foxes and Game. 63

those who have closely observed the actions of
the wretched creature. For wanton damage it
is far worse than a healthy fox.

A practical keeper will quickly recognise the
work of a mangy fox, for his efforts to save nests
are of no avail, and his scares and protective fluids
appear perfectly useless. By a little watching he 1
will soon ascertain if the fox responsible is mangy, |
and in such a case the keeper is warranted in j
at once taking measures to destroy the animal. '
When he succeeds he should allow some respon-
sible person to see the carcass, as a proof that
the fox was mangy and of no possible use for
hunting. Should a keeper be known to destroy
a fox, even if he did so under the provocation
that it was mangy and destroying his nests,
people who relate the occurrence are apt to forget
that the animal was diseased, and he will soon
discover himself alluded to as a habitual trapper ^
of foxes of all degrees. Hence the advice that
he should show the carcass to his master or other
responsible individual.

It is not to be supposed that many foxes live
to a good old age — their existence being far too
precarious for this to occur often — but if a very
old fox does manage to survive he becomes a
fearful nuisance. Stiff of limb, and having lost

64 Game and Foxes.

teeth, such a fox can no longer procure his living
in the way Nature intended, and he, like a mangy
fox, will venture risks which no healthy fox would
dare. An aged fox cares for practically no scare
the keeper can devise, and it is to be feared he
finally gets so cunning as to regard them as
tokens of the whereabouts of a meal. A fox, as
described, is better destroyed in the interests of
both hunting and shooting.

CHAPTER IX.

FOXES ON SHOOTING DAYS.

There was a time when the interference of a
fox on shooting day was thought not worth
considering, but now every effort is directed to
securing a record bag, and as the keeper's place and
reputation often depend upon a record bag being
killed, the disturbance of well-planned beats by a
fox is deemed no light matter. It is really vexing
just as a fine batch of birds has been driven into
a corner, ready to be sent over the guns in small
lots, to discover that a fox is flushing them in one
big bouquet. Under such circumstances the
majority must escape, for there is no time for the
guns to take more than a brace out of every lot,
and perhaps the game lost as described cannot be
shown again that day. Penned in between guns
and drivers, the fox rushes to and fro, and soon
every bird has vanished.

This sort of thing cannot always be avoided if
justice is done to the foxes, but there are ways of

F

66 Game and Foxes.

preventing it. A remark is made elsewhere that
the reader who desires to do his best by both
game and foxes wnll endeavour to keep the latter
at ground, and with this intent must allow them to
form suitable earths. Where earths are available
the foxes will prefer to be at ground in the day-
time, and are not then likely to interfere with
shooting ; should any be above it, the first signs of
beating and the first few shots will drive them into
the earths.

Beating must be conducted slowly if the
presence of a fox is anticipated, so that Reynard
may have time to break out at the flanks or get to
ground, and not be driven into a corner, and
directly the beaters reach an earth down which he
has disappeared the faggot for closing it must be
firmly fixed in the entrance. All other earths
should be closed as the beaters pass them by, that
foxes already within may be kept there. Do not
close earths earlier in the day, as foxes above
ground are certain to be driven in by guns and
beaters, and once in the earths will not give further
trouble.

The wounded game picked up after a day's
covert shooting often forms a creditable addition
to the bag, but under ordinary circumstances
hardly any is recovered in a hunting district. The

Foxes on Shooting Days. 67

night after a shoot foxes have an orgle amongst
wounded game, and much of what they do not
consume is thoroughly spoiled, but if all earths
are kept closed with the foxes inside for a single
night every head of wounded game may be
collected next day. Being kept at ground for one
night will not harm foxes in the least, and is even
beneficial, as a big glut of food does them no
good whatever. If foxes are above ground not-
withstanding every precaution, it must not be
concluded that all game wounded will have
disappeared the night after a shooting, for an
energetic old dog-fox has been known to bury
partly a dozen or so of pheasants on an adjacent
fallow or other convenient place, and a retriever
will find all these. Should much trouble of this
kind with foxes be expected, every effort ought to
be directed to collecting wounded game on the
day of the shoot, and extra hands must be
engaged for this work. Some keepers speak highly
of Renardine for excluding foxes from coverts on
shooting days, this fluid being liberally sprinkled
on all gates, fences, and along rides ; as its odour
is most offensive to foxes they are said to desert
the covert for the time being.

Although everything possible is done and every
precaution observed, it is not a simple matter to

l^' 2

68 Game and Foxes.

make record bags where foxes are preserved, even
if sufficient game exists. The foxes worry the
game, and however regularly pheasants are fed
and driven in they are not to be concentrated and
collected together so easily in certain favourable
coverts. The birds spread out, and must be
sought more widely if the usual proportion is to
be bagged. It is a safer plan to permit this, for
foxes more speedily make captures where the
pheasants are thickly congregated.

Not many hares are in the country now, but
they are the most troublesome of all game to keep
and protect where foxes are preserved. As stated
elsewhere, leverets are a frequent prey, and hares
refuse to remain in a covert much hunted by foxes.
Quietude is very essential to their preservation and
retention. Hares, like other game, are forced to
leave the fields and resort to the coverts during
the turmoil of harvesting, but they soon creep out
again when the crops are gathered in if foxes
occupy the coverts also, and must afterwards
be sought on the stubbles, fallows, and in the
fences. In fact, every out-of-the-way corner
should be searched for game in a hunting locality
before an opinion is formed that there is none.
The Ground Game Act, on the whole, has not
been beneficial to hunting interests, but it has

Foxes on Shooting Days. 69

reduced the hares, and sportsmen do not now
trouble about them ; were they as plentiful as in
years gone past there would be more trouble over
sport with the hares being spoiled by foxes.

To close coverts against hunting till they have
been shot through is not always a wise plan,
especially if the district around is being regularly
hunted ; foxes are quick to discover where they
are allowed peace, and are certain to congregate
in such a haven. If this occurs, more harm may
be inflicted in the end than would be caused by
drawing those coverts once or twice.

In the first part of this chapter earths were
alluded to as a necessity, and it must be under-
stood that natural earths are intended — not the
artificial abominations in which foxes contract
mange. Where the soil consists of heavy clay,
foxes may not be able to tear out earths, and this
is the only instance in which artificial earths are
permissible. Such places can be constructed on
sanitary principles, and the reader is advised to
seek qualified advice before attempting to make
one.

CHAPTER X.

HOW TO MANAGE A VIXEN AND HER CUBS.

If a fox would be content to kill just as much as
is required for its own nourishment no one would
begrudge the food necessary to maintain sufficient
for hunting purposes, but, unfortunately, he is a
sporting character, and the quantity destroyed is
only governed by the opportunity ; should he gain
ingress to a poultry-house it is his practice to slay
the lot and feed off one fowl only. Very often it is a
fox already satiated by a heavy meal which carries
out this wholesale destruction, and not one fowl is
eaten, although some may be buried or otherwise
hidden for future use. Whatever damage may be
ascribed to a vixen having a litter of cubs to feed,
she is rarely guilty of this wholesale destruction, her
natural inclination to kill wantonly being overruled
by anxiety for her youngsters ; consequently,
directly she has secured something she forthwith
starts to carry it to the earth. She may resort
again and again to the same place for supplies,

How to Manage a Vixen and Her Cnhs. 7 1

such as a vulnerable hen-roost or a fence well fur-
nished with game nests, but the birds are only
taken one by one, and, if the earth containing
her cubs is far distant, a great portion of her time
is occupied in passing to and fro. Wanton
damage to sitting game, such as the destruction
of a dozen nests over a limited area in one night,
is generally the work of a dog-fox, and not of a
vixen. Probably, the birds stolen from their nests
may all have disappeared, but if the ground near is
carefully searched they may be found hidden in
the vicinity ; if the dog-fox has done this, a vixen
may find the birds and transport them to her earth
one by one, but she never destroys several, and
buries them previous to taking them to her cubs.
What she catches is carried to them while still
possessing the warmth of life, for the vixen under-
stands the necessity of hot blood to her family.
Particular care has been taken to explain all this,
because, on a number of nests being found
destroyed, summary vengeance may be wreaked
on the nearest vixen with cubs, when she is not
in the least responsible.

He who wishes to preserve both game and
foxes, with the least possible harm to the former,
must have at least one covert containing plenty
of rabbits, for, although a fox does not prefer

72 Game and Foxes.

rabbits to feathered game, they are exceedingly
useful, as an endeavour will be made to show.
In the midst of these rabbits a litter of cubs
should be located, and this may easily be managed
even apparently against the will of the vixen.

A vixen should never be allowed to have her
cubs where she prefers, or she may establish
herself where her power for harm is doubled.
A vixen with a family is not so shy a creature
as when pregnant and looking for an earth ; if
she be much interfered with in the latter case she
may leave an estate altogether and resort elsewhere
for a suitable nursery free from interference. All that
should be done during the early months of the year
is to examine the earths frequently, and carefully
watch for signs of a vixen occupying one. For
this purpose it is not necessary to see her enter
or emerge, as her small round foot-mark is not at
all difficult to distinguish from that of the bigger
dog-fox ; the impression in the soil is more
shallow, because she is not so heavy, and
there are few keepers who cannot discern the
difference. If the entrance to the earth is small,
even her forwardness as regards pregnancy may
be determined, for w^ith increasing girth she rubs
the sides of the entrance to a greater extent. In
the search for vixens do not confine attention to

Hoii' to Manage a Vixen and Her Cubs. 73

existing earths only, but examine all big rabbit
burrows, dry drains, hollow stumps, and also
earths which have been long stopped and disused,
for a vixen is very energetic, and soon tears out a
place in which to deposit her cubs.

When a vixen is found to be regularly occupying
an earth, keep her as free from Interference as
possible, and if only one litter is desired on an
estate, close all other earths so as to prevent more
vixens taking up residence. Construct a neat
faggot, just capable of fitting the entrance to her
earth, and on the morning hounds are expected
close it at the last moment, removing the faggot
directly the pack has cleared away. Carry out
this work with as little disturbance as possible, as
it Is only Intended to prevent foxes entering when
driven before hounds ; the vixen will take care
they do not enter at other times, and no fear need
be entertained that any foxes besides the vixen will
be shut in when the earth is closed on the morning
of the hunt.

It does not matter where a vixen is located
during the first few weeks following upon the
birth of her cubs, because they are subsisting on
her milk only, and she does not require to kill
game for their sustenance ; consequently, she will
do no appreciable damage. Much of her own

74 Game and Foxes.

time will be spent in nursing them, and contributing
the warmth of her body for their benefit, so the
vixen's hunting excursions will be few and short.
Indeed, if she is fed at the earth during this
period, she will not trouble to travel far in search
of other food. Besides, there are no nests yet for
her to destroy, but on an estate where hares can
still be preserved, it is advisable to feed her, as in
a mild spring they are breeding freely ; if not
fed she is certain to hunt persistently the fallows,
wheat and seed fields in search of leverets. The
increase of hares will be considerably greater if
she is fed, but it is useless to provide cold carrion,
as she will refuse to touch it unless under
exceptional circumstances ; everything must be
freshly killed and still w^arm if possible, for
although w^hen hard pressed she will bring carrion
to her cubs, she cannot be expected to rest content
with such fare upon an estate where game is to be
had for the catching. If plenty of rabbits are
available there should be no diflficulty in pro-
viding suflBcient food for a vixen, and she
dearly loves rats — water-rats in particular.
Another reason a vixen should be allowed to
choose her own earth for the litter to be born
in is that when the cubs begin to come out to
play she is inclined to shift them to new and

Hoiv to Manage a Vixen and Her Cubs. 75

sweeter quarters. The cubs, while living entirely
in the earth, foul it a good deal, and the remnants
of their food do not add to its sanitary condition ;
hence the vixen may leave the first earth where
she is desired to remain in favour of another where
she is certainly not wanted.

When the entrance to an earth and the imme-
diate surroundings show that the cubs emerge to
play, preparations must be made to shift the w^hole
family to another earth in the midst of a stock of
rabbits, and this is more easily managed than readers
may imagine. The keeper should procure a long-
handled Norfolk rabbiting-spade, and with. this tool
scrape out the disused earth the vixen is intended
to occupy to as great a depth as he can reach,
depositing the excavated soil m a heap just outside,
as if it had been torn out by a fox. This heap, if
consisting of nice, fresh soil, will act as an adver-
tisement of a house to let, of which the vixen when
passing is sure to take notice. Having prepared
the earth as suggested, every effort must be
directed to attracting the vixen to it If a fox's
excrement is found, remove it near ; also snare a
few^ rabbits close by, and leave them alive in
the snares, for a squeaking rabbit will draw a
fox a mile on a quiet night. If the vixen fetches
these away see that others replace them, so

y6 Game and Foxes.

that she becomes accustomed to resort to the new
earth each night, and when it has been ascertained
that she does this, measures to compel her to bring
her cubs may be taken. A Httle paraffin should
be poured at evening into the entrance of the
earth containing the cubs (half-a-pint will be
sufficient), and she will remove her nursery that
night ; and if the procedure described has been
carefully carried out she will invariably take her
cubs to the new earth prepared for them. A
vixen has been made in this way to shift her cubs
a mile, removing half the litter one night and the
remainder that following. Should there be no old
earth for the vixen to occupy, which can be opened
up by aid of a spade, a hole should be dug, in a
dry, sandy bank for preference, and the soil
deposited outside as advised. If the vixen can be
tempted near she will deepen and enlarge it for
her cubs as soon as the old earth is tainted.

When the cubs have been located in the midst
of the rabbits readers must not expect to see a
rapid diminution of the latter in the vicinity of the
earth, for a vixen has a habit of religiously leaving
alone everything close by her earth. She is popu-
larly supposed to do this for the purpose of
currying favour with those owning game and
poultry near, but has another and far deeper

Ho7v to Manage a Vixen and Her Cicbs. 77

reason. Wise mother that she is, she recognises
that a day will arrive when, with all her energy
and skill as a hunter, she will be unable to supply
the wants of her cubs, and they will be compelled
to forage for themselves ; she also knows they will
not have her store of knowledge to draw upon to
assist them in procuring food, and so, for their future
benefit, she leaves alone the store close at hand.
The rabbits near the earth become accustomed
to seeing the old vixen ignore their presence as
she passes to and fro, and they grow to regard
her as more or less harmless ; but dearly wuU
they pay for their misplaced confidence in foxes
and present immunity from attack when her
cubs begin to hunt on their own account. For
all this, she will kill rabbits a few hundred yards
away and bring them to the earth, the ease wath
which they may be procured often tempting her
to spend time thus which might otherwise be
employed in seeking more valuable game.

In these days farmers consider they possess an
interest in rabbits on their holdings, and object
to having a litter of cubs located near a flourishing
colony w^hich is regarded as a source of future
revenue. Of course, a farmer cannot interfere
with rabbits in a covert, but, if a vixen is known
to be taking rabbits from burrows in the field-

78 Game and Foxes.

fences, a farmer not possessing friendly inclina-
tions towards hunting may do his best to drive
her and the litter from the neighbourhood, even if
he does not resort to worse measures. Before the
passing of the Ground Game Act all rabbits
belonged to the landlord, and, as they lived on
the produce of the farm, the farmer did not mind
how a vixen reduced their numbers ; but now that
he possesses a concurrent right to those rabbits,
he regards the presence of a fox from a different
point of view. Because a vixen is likely to be
interfered with, that is, trapped or poisoned, a
strict watch must be kept to protect the earth,
and to discover at once if she is missing ; if the
latter occurs the cubs must be fed by hand, or
they will die. Should fox-destroying neigh-
bours be feared on any hand, evidence that the
vixen is still alive and doing her duty by the cubs
must be looked for at frequent intervals, for she
forages widely, particularly in a district where
food is scarce, and may be harshly dealt with at
any moment.

When the nesting season arrives it is of
undoubted advantage to feed cubs, but how
seldom is this conducted properly and with due
regard to the saving of the game I Most men
deem it sufficient to throw down provender near

Ho7i^ to Manage a Vixen and Her Cubs, 79

the earth they occupy, but where this Is done the
vixen goes on hunting all the same and inflicts
just as much damage on the game. The aim
of a keeper when feeding cubs should be to
employ the vixen during the hours when under
ordinary circumstances she would be engaged
hunting. As a rule she forages during the night
only, but, when food is scarce and enough cannot
be procured on her excursions after dark, is
forced to make daylight expeditions. With a
little observation it should be a simple matter to
discover the favourite direction of a vixen when
starting out foraging, and the points for which she
makes. It is at the furthest of these food should
be placed for her, as a lot of her time will then
be employed in carting it to the earth, and while
thus engaged she cannot be doing harm. By
judiciously placing such supplies, a vixen may be
encouraged and tempted to resort farther and
farther from her earth, and the journeys taken to
and fro will employ and tire her. This is the
way to feed a litter of cubs, for food placed near
the earth has no effect on the vixen, and has no
influence in staying her hunting.

Some attention must be paid to the kind of
food provided. As before stated, where rabbits
are abundant there will be little difficulty in

8o Game and Foxes.

securing sufficient, but it will be well to provide
variety if possible. On many estates young rooks /
will be available during May, and there is nothing f
both vixen and cubs appreciate more. There is no
need to take rooks to the earth, for a vixen is fond
of visiting a rookery, hoping that some of the
nestlings may have fallen, and is clever enough to
know there is a greater chance of this on a rough,
windy night, when the slight boughs on which the
nests are built rock to and fro. The young rooks
intended for the cubs need only be shot and left
lying. It is the wiser course to handle food placed
out for the vixen as little as possible, and she will
then take it all the more freely. Rabbits should
be snared, trapped, or netted, and as far as
possible pegged down alive for her. Readers are
particularly warned against using the gun too ;
much when procuring food for cubs, because the
shots embedded in the rabbits, or whatever is
killed, are swallowed, and in several instances cubs
have been known to die of lead poisoning solely
from continually eating food which had been shot.
If fed daily on stuff thus procured, enough lead to
cause this trouble is soon taken into their systems. 1
Few readers may know that a fox dearly loves a \
stoat or weasel, so if any are trapped they may
serve a better purpose given to the cubs instead '

Hoiv to Manage a Vixen and Her Cubs. 8i

of being hung on the vermin pole. Rats of all
varieties, and mice, are much appreciated, and
where stacks of corn are being thrashed a big
supply of these may often be obtained. Water-
hens are also accounted orreat delicacies, and
so are pigeons. It will thus be seen that a good
deal of food may be obtained without interfering
with anything of much value for sport or the
larder, but it would be useless for the author to
seek to discount the trouble of keeping a litter of
cubs supplied. A man will be employed for at
least half his time during May and June; but the
saving of the game effected will well repay all
money and labour expended in that direction.

It is useless, too, to try and conceal the fact that
a vixen is frequently killed as a means of saving
the game, and the cubs entirely fed by hand from
the moment they can eat flesh food, but in the
interests of hunting this system cannot be too
strongly condemned. In the interests of shooting
such procedure is all right, but cubs brought up
entirely by hand are seldom as strong and healthy
as those reared by a vixen. Plenty will come
forward to contend otherwise, but facts are against
them. It is only by the most careful feeding that
cubs lacking a vixen can be kept healthy, and to
provide them with carrion and offal is sure finally

G

82 Game and Foxes.

to cause an outbreak of mange. He who breeds
mange amongst foxes makes a rod for his own
back, but this subject is dealt with elsewhere.
With reference to cubs which have never known a
vixen's care since they first came out of the earth
to play, it may unhesitatingly be asserted that
they eventually do far greater damage to the
estate which shelters them. Such foxes have
always been fed at home, and they continue to
feed at home, while others which have occasionally
accompanied the vixen on foraging excursions
carry on their feeding over a far wider area.

Finally, the author would like to remark that a
frequent and regular examination of the earth will
be a means of revealing what the vixen is doing
and on what she is feeding her cubs ; feathers,
wings, feet, etc., are sure to be left lying about,
and these will be a guide to the keeper as to
whether she is paying undue attention to sitting-
birds. Should she be engaged in this, find out
the direction in which she is working, and strive
to check her.

CHAPTER XI.

TRAPPING AND SNARING IN A HUNTING
COUNTRY.

When vermin-trapping is mentioned the majority
of hunting men at once shake their heads, for the
mere name of a steel-trap conjures up visions of
foxes minus legs or feet ; some even forbid the
use of such traps upon their estates, for fear
a fox should be injured, but when doing this
they are going too far, as no keeper can deal
effectively with vermin without the assistance of
steel-traps. Till something better is invented they
must remain the best implements for the purpose.
Stringent trapping for vermin is more necessary
in a hunting country than in any other, for foxes
do quite enough damage to game without there
being losses from other and preventable causes.
If vermin are allowed to work unchecked, which it
practically amounts to upon estates where the
setting of a steel-trap is prohibited, some of the
harm done is sure to be ascribed to foxes, and in

G 2

84 Game and Foxes.

this way the latter get a worse name than they
really deserve. In their own interests hunting
men should encourage trapping, for stoats and
weasels, if abundant, kill a lot of poultry, and a
farmer is only too ready to assert that foxes
have destroyed his fowls, because he is then
assured of whole or partial compensation. The
poultry fund is in lots of cases drawn upon to
satisfy the claims of those who have lost fowls
owing to stoats, and for this reason alone hunting-
men should do their best to encourage careful and
skilful trapping, for a steel-trap can be used
without the slightest danger to foxes. Besides,
there is another reason for suggesting this, for the
more vermin existing the less there is for foxes
to live upon and the greater the chances that
the latter will attack poultry. Where vermin are
numerous, foxes have a harder struggle for
existence, and what damage they do becomes
far more noticeable.

The utmost sympathy is felt by the writer for a
keeper who is expected to preserve game in a
hunting district and is yet denied the assistance of
steel-traps for fear a fox should be injured. He
has undertaken an almost impossible task, and,
notwithstanding all the ingenuity with which he
may dispose his box-traps and other clumsy

Trappingj &c., in a Hunting Country. 85

contrivances, he can never succeed to half the
extent another keeper will who is able freely to use
steel-traps. His estate is bound to he overrun
with all kinds of vermin, to the curse of those
adjacent, where the steel-trap will be employed to
far greater extent, because he does not trap
properly. If the latter occurs, what is the gain
in the end ?

A sportsman so obstinate (forgive the word?) as
to prohibit the use of a steel-trap is advised to
allow his keeper to set them, but with the proviso
that they should not be concealed in any way.
No fox, under any circumstances, will be so
misguided as to venture near an exposed steel- /
trap, and yet a lot of vermin may be caught. A
poaching cat has no reluctance to place her foot
on a bare steel-trap, nor has stoat or weasel, and
to clear these off by the best-known means is
absolutely necessary to the preservation of game.
However, the more cunning kinds of vermin, and
they comprise most of the feathered varieties, are
not to be easily tempted near a trap unless it is
concealed. These must be dealt with by other
means, but as poison is out of the question, and
traps may not be set so that such vermin may be
caught, it is difficult to say what can be done.

X^ermin trapping, even as carried out by the

86 Game and Foxes.

ordinary keeper, may be conducted without the
least danger to foxes if very simple precautions
are strictly observed, for it is only the careless
and neglectful trapper who endangers the life and
limb of a fox. So keen is the nose of a fox that
it is able to detect evidence of a human being
having handled a trap long after this has passed
beyond the power of stoat and weasel ; for that
reason, the trapper who resets his traps each day
will never harm a fox. He who sets a trap, and,
because it captures nothing, leaves it untouched j
for several days, is carrying out his work in a
very careless fashion, and is the man guilty of i
injuring foxes. After twenty-four hours all traces '
of human handling have vanished, and a trap left
untouched for that length of time is a direct
danger to a passing fox. The careful trapper will
go over all his traps, and reset each one, whether
it has been disturbed or not, preferably not earlier
than 2 p.m. ; no fox will venture near them the
succeeding night, for the scent of man's presence
will be far too palpable about the spot. The
most risky trap of all is one set so that a fox
jumps over some obstacle right on to it, so be
cautious of placing steel-traps on one side of a
fence, wall, or ditch, which foxes habitually leap
over.

Trapping, &€., in a Hinifiiig Conntry. 87

The safety of a fox also rests in the proper
placuig of a bait, to quite as great an extent as it
does in any other precaution a trapper can
observe. It is a sovereign rule, when trapping
for any particular kind of vermin, for the trapper
to judge accurately the exact distance between
the forefeet of the creature it is desired to trap
and its nose ; this having been determined, the
bait and trap must be arranged that far apart,
care being taken that the former cannot be
approached except over the latter. If a trap is
placed so that it will take the forefeet of a stoat
engaged in smelling the bait, it stands to reason
that a fox may lift that same bait without coming
within the compass of the jaws. Predaceous
creatures are exceedingly cautious when ap-
proaching anything having the semblance of a
bait, usually stretch their bodies to the fullest
extent while endeavouring to obtain possession of
or reach it, and the fox observes this rule perhaps
more strictly than any other animal. All readers
may rest assured that trapping conducted as
advised will not endanger a fox. A fox which
has once been in a trap and escaped may be
trusted never to get into such a difficulty again,
as those whose duty it is to trap foxes on grouse
moors know to their cost.

88 Game and Foxes.

On an estate, which shall be nameless, where
foxes are strictly preserved, and around which it
is to be feared every effort is made to trap them,
full advantage is taken of the foregoing fact.
Traps with weak springs are especially made, and
designedly set to catch foxes at intervals of a
month or so ; the result is to give the foot a smart
rap, and it is then withdrawn with little difficulty
and no material injury. The fox which has met
with this experience is most cautious for the future,
and, since the system has been adopted upon the
estate to which allusion has been made, those over
the boundaries seeking to trap foxes have met
with but limited success.

Snares are far more dangerous to foxes than
steel-traps, and far more generally used, especially
since the passing of the Ground Game Act.
Where hares and rabbits exist on a farm snares are
to be found in every fence at certain seasons of the
year, and a fox is fortunate to avoid them.
Indeed, Reynard is attracted to the spot where
they are set by the cries of rabbits already caught,
and if any snares are still standing they get on his
legs. A snare made to hold a hare or rabbit is not
sufficiently strong to detain a fox, but the wire of
which it is composed draws tight and often becomes
deeply buried in the flesh before a fox can break

Trapping, &c\, in a Hunting Country. 89

away. Snares are always made of brass or copper
wire, because these materials are ductile, and both
have bad effect on the flesh, causing a gangrenous
sore which either kills Reynard or renders him too
lame for hunting purposes. Snares used in the
game-preserve should not be made too strong,
and, while weak enough to give at once to the pull
of so large an animal as a fox, they w^ould still be
able to detain either hare or rabbit. A fox would
then break away before the wire became deeply
embedded in his flesh. A fox does not get rabbit-
snares round his neck, but his legs become
entangled as he moves about where they are set.
If every person using snares in a hunting country
could be persuaded to tie a knot in each about
four or five inches from the eye, that snare would
still run up sufficiently to hold a rabbit, but
Reynard might withdraw his leg. The eye could
not pass over the knot, and in this way the snare
would never tighten on a fox's leg.

A fox and hare have been seen caught in one
snare, and it must have been made unnecessarily
strong. In this instance, while endeavouring to
escape the fox, the hare had run in a circle at
the extreme length of its tether, firmly twisted
the wire round the hind-leg of the fox, and there
both were found by the keeper.

go Game and Foxes.

One of the greatest grievances against a fox is
that he interferes so much with snaring and trap-
ping operations carried on with a view to the
capture of rabbits, and the farmer, hoping to profit
by the provisions of the Ground Game Act, is
inclined to resent the losses occasioned thereby.
A rabbit in a snare is so easy a prey that a fox will
resort night after night where he has discovered
that snaring is going on, and play havoc amongst
the rabbits caught. The best way of preventing
this is to move the snares as often as possible to a
fresh site, never snaring in one spot more than a
single night ; this will prevent losses of rabbits and
injury to foxes.

A trapper working the burrows never need lose
rabbits to foxes if he exercises due care ; there
are two spots at which to set a trap at a burrow,
one being just at the entrance and the other well
down the hole ; a rabbit leaves by leaping out, and
a trap set between the taking-off and landing-
place will not be eflective. Foxes are fond of
smelling down burrows, and to trap outside or
just in the entrance would be manifestly to their
injury, so trapping well inside only is admissible.
And it is to the trapper's advantage to follow these
instructions, because a rabbit when caught creeps
as far as possible into its burrow, and the trap

Trapping, &c., in a Hunting Country. 91

being between it and a fox seeking a supper,
Reynard is beaten. If he can seize the rabbit
without the necessity of touching the trap, which
he will be able to do if it is set at the entrance,
he has no compunction whatever in stealing that
rabbit ; this is why so many are lost, and the fox
instead of the trapper condemned.

It has been the writer's endeavour to give the
fox his due throughout, so it is only fair to state
that he performs some good work as regards
vermin, for a game-preserve in a hunting district
where foxes abound is seldom infested with rats
as estates are where not a fox exists. Rats are
the most harmful of all vermin to winged game, \
and the most difficult to get rid of, so the fox is to
be commended for killing them. Many stoats and
weasels are also destroyed by foxes. 1

CHAPTER XII.

GENERAL REMARKS.

Where foxes and game are both required — that
is, a sufficiency of the former and an abundance
of the latter — suitable coverts are a necessity, and
if coverts can be provided for each the work of
production will be much simplified. Foxes dearly
love a cosy, well-kept gorse covert, big enough to
afford privacy and concealment, and dense enough
to yield shelter from piercing winds. If such a
gorse is planted, and kept quiet, foxes will not lie
much in the game-coverts, and this is a great
gain.

The fox-covert ought to be as far distant as
possible from those intended for game, and yet
not quite on the boundaries of an estate, for to
form a fox-preserve on the boundary cannot be
considered a neighbourly action, and it is hardly
fair to seek credit for maintaining foxes when they
live to a large extent on ground other than your
own. Besides, this is a certain way to encourage

General Remarks. 93

vulpecide, or, if things do not go so far as this,
all sorts of ill-feeling which is bad indeed for
the welfare of hunting. Plant your fox-covert
well within your own boundary, and yet as distant
as possible from the principal game coverts.

It is hardly necessary to dilate here upon the
proper way to form a gorse, because directions for
this have been given in so many books and
journals ; but a smaller area than five acres will
not prove satisfactory, and a bigger expanse Is
to be recommended. However, success will
largely depend upon the privacy of the site and
the density of the covert. The best shape for it
is that of a triangle, because It is more easily
watched when a fox Is expected to break, and It
has been found that Reynard more freely leaves
a covert of that form. In a square covert he
may contrive to circle and thus elude hounds, but
in one of triangular shape Is certain to get cornered
very quickly and then must take to the open. If
possible locate the fox-covert amid cultivated
fields, as these are more free from disturbance
than grazing land during the hunting season. Do
not have rides or footpaths through It, as they
only invite intrusion, and without them few
trespassers will seek to penetrate far Into a dense
thicket of prickly gorse.

94 Game and Foxes.

Hunting men, who do not shoot, strongly con-
demn the presence of rabbits in a fox-covert, and
are able to advance strong arguments in support
of their exclusion. Rabbits cannot be prevented
burrowing, and, however careful the keeper may
be when earth-stopping, hunting men assert that
he is certain to leave open burrows large enough
to provide refuges for foxes hard pressed by
hounds. This is reasonable, but if a covert has
proper supervision there should be little risk of
sport being spoiled in the way described. Rabbits
are also, hunting men say, an invitation for every
wandering terrier to hunt through the covert ; but
what wandering terrier can refrain from hunting
through any covert met with, whether rabbits
be present or not ? Rabbits are a means of
absorbing the attention of any dogs which do
intrude, and the foxes are left in peace. The
shooting man is strongly advised to encourage
rabbits in his fox-covert, as they will be the means
of saving a lot of game from destruction. Old foxes
may ignore rabbits as a staple food, but cubs feed
thereon for many weeks after the vixen has ceased
to provide for them. Without rabbits they wander
far and wide, and under such circumstances are
certain to discover the whereabouts of the hand-
reared pheasants at a very inopportune period.

General Remarks. 95

On cold, rough nights, even the old foxes on
leaving their earths in search of provender will be
tempted to console themselves with an easily-
caught rabbit, as they may afterwards quickly get
back to shelter and comfort. A vixen's favourite
food for her cubs is young rabbits, particularly
when her youngsters are first taking to a fiesh
diet ; the numerous nests of rabbits she scratches
out and carries to the earth prove this, and in the
covert containing her litter rabbits may be relied
upon not to increase at a very speedy rate during
the first few weeks of the cubs' existence. Hunt-
ing men may agree in condemning the presence of
rabbits in a fox-covert, but if a friend of both
hunting and shooting wishes to do all he is able
for the two sports, he should be permitted to
follow the plan he considers the wiser and better
without being subject to criticism more or less
hostile.

It is doubtful if a fox ever scratches out an
earth in solid soil, for the burrow of some other
creature is in nearly every case adopted as a
basis. The deserted retreat of a badger is at
once fit for occupation, but a rabbit's burrow may
be enlarged at the expenditure of little labour,
and the latter is without doubt the origin of the
majority of natural earths. For this reason alone

96 Game and Foxes.

rabbits should be allowed in a fox-covert, as a
change of earths is necessary to the health of a
litter of cubs, particularly when much food is
being brought to them and remnants left from
their meals begin to render foul the one they for
the time occupy. While a litter remains small,
and unable to roam about in the earth, rabbits
have no objection to occupying it jointly with
them, using the small side holes up which the
vixen cannot penetrate because of her size ; but
when the cubs begin to crawl about, rabbits are
compelled to leave, for each tiny side-hole is
explored before the cubs dare venture outside.
These side-holes which rabbits make in connec-
tion with an earth are frequently the means of
preventing the destruction of the litter, as, when
a hunting terrier enters, each cub promptly rushes
up them and the dog cannot follow. If those
who raise objection to the presence of rabbits in
a fox-covert will ponder on the foregoing remarks,
it is possible they will afterwards entertain a
contrary opinion.

For the sake of the game, foxes are far better
kept at ground, and, indeed, it is better for hunting
that they should lie in their earths all day if so
disposed. While there, they are not likely to be
disturbed and driven away from the covert, but

General Remarks.

97

when lying above ground are constantly being put
on foot. If this occurs, a fox will start hunting, and
it does not make for quietude in the preserves if
foxes are continually wandering about and dis-
turbing the coverts. Where a fox can be kept at
ground a find Is more to be relied upon, for
Reynard may easily be shut out when hounds are
expected. The great advantage of allowing foxes
to remain at ground Is that they stay there In
peace the major portion of the twenty-four hours,
perfectly free from Interference, If wandering curs
can be kept from entering the earths. It Is their
nature to sleep through the day If permitted to do
so, and roam only at night. Foxes not allowed
to have and occupy earths are forced to secure
what rest they can above ground, and are con-
stantly being put on foot by dogs, Intruders of the
human kind, and even by loud voices at a
distance They may not leave a covert, but are
compelled to move about it In search of quiet ;
and when at this do not lose opportunities of
seizing game, should such present themselves.
The mere fact of a fox wandering about in the
daytime creates a disturbance amongst game In a
covert, and has the effect of scaring a portion of
it to other quarters. Where foxes are kept at
ground they do not emerge, except under special

H

98 Game and Foxes.

circumstances, till nightfall, and then every
pheasant which is adult should be at roost.

Hunting men ought at once to recognise the
importance of keeping foxes at ground, for a fox
which rests all day is in a fit condition for a long
ramble during the hours of darkness ; and it is
at such a time the country and the way about it
is learned. A fox wandering by day seldom
learns anything in the way suggested, for it is
scared at every turn. Neither is a fox which has
its rest disturbed by day able to roam far, for it
generally secures a meal, and is then glad to lie
down and sleep in peace.

In a clay country foxes are not much accus-
tomed to being at ground unless artificial earths
are provided, for nearly every litter of cubs is
reared in a hollow stump or similar shelter.
Under these circumstances the game suffers
greatly, as the foxes feed to a large extent by
day and sleep at night, when they are more free
from interference. If a fox gets a hare it is
always by jumping on puss while she is in her
form, and this can hardly occur unless Reynard is
on the prowl by day. Rabbits, like foxes, find
great difficulty in burrowing in a clay soil, and a
large number live and are bred above ground ;
consequently they suffer more than would be the

General Remarks. 99

case on a light soil. Having no burrows to which
to retreat, the rabbits are easily coursed down by
a fox, and, being obliged to sit above ground, are
seized in their seats by foxes hunting by daylight.
Litters of young rabbits are also laid up in hollow
stumps, where they remain an easy prey to the
first passing fox ; or in shallow stops, which
Reynard quickly tears out if so disposed.

Artificial earths may not be an unmixed
blessing, but should certainly be provided in a
clay country if game is required, for foxes which
remain at ground by day do far less damage in
the end. If a passage can be made in some
steep bank, through the clay to a vein of sand,
the foxes will do the rest ; and a cosier abiding
place for them could not be imagined. Should
an earth have to be made, it must be located
at a spot just inside a gorse, so that it may
be closed at night without the necessity of the
keeper passing through a large portion of the
covert. If he is compelled to do this, a fox
which has just emerged from its earth, and not yet
left the covert, may be driven back and shut in.
A keeper for his own sake should be most careful
to shut foxes from their earths when required, and
to close the entrances properly when hounds are
expected to run his way. He is generally credited

H 2

loo Game and Foxes.

with a desire to get rid of foxes, and he can
gratify it in no more legitimate way than by
careful attention to the details specified.

The officials of a Hunt do not always extend
due consideration to the interests of their shooting
friends when drawing coverts, being more intent
on getting a fox to head for a good country than
on preventing the escape of game over the
boundary of an estate. Running hounds intent
on the line of their fox do little damage in passing
through a covert, but it is a different matter when
they are drawing ; in the last case every corner is
searched and little in the way of game left
undisturbed. This is particularly likely to occur
if a fox fails to break directly, and the draw is
lengthened. Hounds ought to be thrown into
covert so that any game driven out will make for
home and not away, and the Field should be
placed in a position to assist in this desirable
object. There is room for a great deal more
consideration of this kind, as every shooting man
who likes to provide a fox will agree.

There is one thing the Hunt authorities often
do which cannot be too strongly condemned, and
that is the turning down of semi-tame foxes in
a covert stocked with young game. This is done
because such litters are on hand and the Hunt

General Remarks. loi

does not know what to do with them. Before
now a litter has been released at night in a covert
containing hand-reared pheasants just removed
from the rearing-field, and great destruction
wrought before measures could be taken to
prevent it. From courtesy alone the owner of a
shoot should be consulted before such foxes are
turned down on his place, or a breach of friend-
ship will surely result. If he consents to receive
a litter and it is released at a spot indicated by
him, the cubs comprising it are sure to be fed and
properly looked after. Instances are on record of
information being sent to hunting headquarters of
there being too many litters on an estate, accom-
panied by a request that some should be taken
elsewhere ; and these cubs have been removed by
day, and turned down on the same place the
succeeding night.

Cubs which have been kept in confinement a
few wrecks and fed by hand become partially
tame ; their dread of man is not so pronounced as
it is in the case of purely wild foxes, and being
unaccustomed to get their own food such cubs
venture lengths which an ordinary fox would not
dare. In this case all the keeper's efforts and
carefully-devised scares are of little avail. Many
good friends of hunting have been alienated by

I02 Game arid Foxes.

the unwise turning down of half- tame cubs on
their estates, and, as far as the sport they afford is
concerned, the foxes they develop into are not
worth the loss of the most humble supporter of
the Hunt.

Another precaution which Hunt authorities might
observe on behalf of their shooting allies is to
keep cubbing fixtures quite secret. These take
place while game, especially hand-reared pheasants,
is young and inexperienced, and the roughs who
make the coming of hounds an excuse for
assembling are able to secure a lot of birds
with little trouble. Besides, when cubs are the
quarry, hounds linger in covert a long time, and
roughs of poaching inclinations have an excuse
for lingering on the scene also. Regular
hunting fixtures may be made public, for game
in November is mature, better able to look after
its own safety, the pack is soon away on the line
of a fox, and the keeper in a position to order
off the roughs. A portion of the Field and some
of the Hunt servants might do worse than act as
keepers on these occasions, and they should at
once check any attempt of roughs to penetrate
into the more sacred parts of a preserve. The
drawing of coverts, too, might be conducted less
noisily, with an absence of horn-blowing and loud

General Remarks. 103

cries ; such a tumult may get foxes on foot, but
also puts birds on wing.

The cry of the hunting man is for old foxes in

preference to youngsters bred the season before,

the former being supposed to possess a knowledge

of the country-side which enables them to run

better, but young foxes appeal more to the

shooting man. When a fox has managed to

survive a couple of seasons he has acquired a

store of knowledge certainly, but this enables him

to outwit hounds by cunning rather than by pace.

On the other hand, foxes of less experience have

no accumulation of cunning to draw upon, they

know considerably less of the country, and as their

only idea of escaping is by outpacing hounds they

generally afford a good run and blood to the pack

at its termination. The old fox in many instances

gets to ground safely, and hounds are discouraged

thereby. As explained elsewhere, it is the old fox

which does the greatest damage amongst gamic,

and a leash of them are capable of far more harm

than double the number of youngsters.

Hunting men look askance on any project for
preserving foxes which interferes in the least
degree with the animals' liberty, saying that once
they sanction such procedure there is no telling
where it will end. Without recommending the

I04 Game and Foxes.

following ideas to be put into practice, the author
feels that they are worthy of discussion in a work
of this description, and he only regrets that he is
not permitted to name the estates upon which they
have been carried out. On one estate the head-
keeper made a practice of confining every fox for
a few weeks during the breeding season of the game,
and he contrived to do this without handling one.
Two litters of cubs were reared annually, and each
was fenced in with wire-netting, together with the
vixen belonging to it. No dead carrion was
thrown down for the litter to feed upon, but each
eveninor a few live rabbits were released in the
enclosure, and these were sufficient to maintain
the family of foxes in health and vigour. The
fence w^as not erected till the end of March, when
game commences to nest, was taken down at the
end of June, and the results accruing from this
system were wonderful, as the game was free from
molestation during the nesting season. This
keeper's method of catching up the dog and other
odd foxes about the estate is curious and yet
simple and effective. He merely wires in a big
enclosure in the centre of his principal covert,
erecting a fence impassable to a fox, and in it
places one fox to serve as a decoy to the rest.
This enclosure is got into w^orking order as soon

Geiieral Remarks. 105

as possible after hunting ceases. On the outside
of the fence he throws up one or two banks of
earth at equal distances apart, up these the foxes
at liberty run, and from the top they leap Into
the enclosure to join the one already there.
This they do freely till hardly one remains outside.
Like the rest, they are liberally fed on live rabbits,
and duly released when they can do little harm, In
perfect health and condition. This Is a plan which
might be more widely practised, If carried out as
carefully, with every benefit to sporting Interests.

Another keeper, a well-known man In his pro-
fession, vouched that he secured the safety of his 0
nesting game by performing on every cub a slight
operation which utterly destroyed its scenting
faculties. How he contrived to do this he could
never be persuaded to divulge, but observation of
the habits of his foxes certainly went to prove that
something of the kind had been done. They could
not smell a red-herring, were compelled to hunt for
food by aid of eyes alone, and a bird on its nest
was rarely destroyed. Food not being easy to pro-
cure under such conditions, these foxes had to
work hard for It and range far, and consequently
grew to be very active and vigorous. The keeper
who practises this is fond of assertmg it to be
the only solution of the problem of producing

io6 Game and Foxes.

winged game In a hunting country, but he feared
to speak of it generally from dread of losing his
berth.

Many hunting-men look with a kindly eye
on badgers, but, however welcome their presence
in a covert where foxes are given the preference
over game, they should not be permitted to remain
on a shooting estate. Badgers are responsible for
a lot of destruction which is attributed by the
io^norant to foxes, the work of the two animals
being very similar to all but the experienced
keeper. The badger often bores a way into a
hen-roost of which the fox takes advantage later
in the night. Probably, a badger is as destructive
to nests of game and stops of young rabbits as a
fox, and has been known to clear every nest out of
a fence in a single night. Of eggs of all descrip-
tions he is extremely fond, and is guilty of
searching consistently and perseveringly for such
delicacies.

When complaints are heard of great havoc
among game nests, it is advisable for those
concerned to make careful inquiry and exami-
nation. In one instance the author heard that a
farmer, w^ho had the shooting rights over his own
holding, had lost a great many partridge nests from
foxes, and was vowing vengeance against the

General Remarks. 107

entire vulpine race. A very casual inspection was
sufficient to show that no one but himself was
responsible for the damage, as it had all been
done by the pigs he had allowed to roam over
certain fields that year. Pigs have noses far
keener than a setter's, and soon learn to hunt for
eggs with the greatest success, as many a farmer's
wife has found to her own cost when resorting to
her hen-roost in quest of eggs. No doubt many a
game nest they have destroyed has been scored
against'foxes.

One good work the fox does is the snapping-up
of diseased game as soon as it becomes at all
feeble, and thereby preventing the spread of the
complaint. In the Eastern Counties, and else-
where, coveys of partridges are frequently seen
afflicted with gapes, and, when flushed, individual
birds drop exhausted at intervals along the whole
line of flight. These birds linger on from day to
day, spreading the disease, but if foxes existed
there all but the most vigorous would be promptly
destroyed, and their capacity for harm at once
brought to an end, with ultimate benefit to the
rest of the stock. In a hunting district a covey
may be noted to grow smaller day by day, but it
is possible that the birds have become infected
w4th disease, and have fallen a prey to Reynard

io8 'Game and Foxes.

before they grew so weak as to be noticeable.
There is no doubt that an appreciable portion of
the game a fox secures would die in any case from
disease or wounds, and perhaps do immense harm
before succumbing in a natural way. So it is
really no loss.

In a hunting country, where foxes are to be
feared, a game-preserver will do well to maintain
his stock of game in the fullest health and vigour.
A healthy bird possessed of good stamina is sure
to be more on the alert than another lower in
condition, which is inclined to mope ; it is the
latter bird which becomes an easy prey to foxes.
Interbreeding is a sure and certain means of
producing birds lacking in vigour, and should be
avoided at all costs. Where the proprietor of a
shooting is careful to infuse fresh blood amongst
his stock at frequent intervals, his losses from
foxes are sure to be decreased, for his birds are
better able to look after their own safety. We all
recognise in the human specimen the alertness
and vim which arises from perfect health and a
vigorous constitution, and, as this enables a man
to battle with the difficulties of his life, so does it
assist even a pheasant or partridge to escape
dangers which are fatal to less vigorous birds of
their kind. Game out of condition is just as much

General Remarks. 109

a victim to lassitude as a human subject, and it is
one of the laws of nature that the unfit should
succumb and give place to the fit. Foxes are
acting as the agents of nature when destroying
game of weak stamina.

It is a frequent remark of experienced sportsmen
that game of all descriptions found in a hunting
country affords the best of sport. This is because
the ever-present danger of foxes has caused it to
be wild and constantly on the alert, and also
because each weakly bird is certain to be destroyed
and only the healthiest are left to breed.

It is not quite clear why sportsmen should be
so anxious to secure the old birds from a covey
of partridges as early in the shooting season as
possible, although this is widely done under a
rightful impression that they are best out of the
way before another breeding season comes round.
Young birds are the more prolific Avithout a doubt,
and nothing is to be said against killing the
parent birds of a covey directly the season opens
in a non-hunting locality ; but it is not a wise
action where foxes have to be reckoned with,
because when the old birds have disappeared the
covey is deprived of its natural protectors.
Young partridges are innocent of many risks
from which the parent birds are able to defend

iio Game and Foxes.

them, and a fox finds it extremely easy to do as
he likes with a covey lacking their guidance. In
1 a hunting country it is advisable to allow old
\ partridges to escape at the opening of the season,
and to kill them later on. At night it is the old
cock which keeps awake and on the alert to give
warning of a fox creeping near, and partridge
netters one and all assert that he is the means of
saving many a covey just as the net is about to
fall and enfold the lot. Old partridges, of experi-
ence, are more hkely to rear a brood in a hunting
country than young pairs of the previous season,
for the writer has proved this over and over
again.
i Partridge driving late in the day is greatly to

be condemned, and should not be indulged in if
foxes are numerous. If darkness comes on before
the broken and intermixed coveys are able to sort
themselves, and assemble together, foxes have a
rare frolic amongst the birds on the stubbles and
fallows. Thoroughly dazed, the partridges sit
about in all sorts of places, many of them having
crept into fences and ditches, where they fall
easy victims to foxes. French partridges suffer a
great deal in this way, for they run till tired and
then tuck themselves into a hedge.

There is just one matter which should be

General Remarks. 1 1 1

pointed out to those readers who turn down
foreign partridges In a hunting district. Wherever
possible a majority of hen birds should be released,
for cocks are sure to be in preponderance at the
pairing season. When a nest Is destroyed by a
fox it Is generally the hen bird which is taken and
the cock which escapes, and this accounts for
birds of the male sex predominating where foxes
are preserved. An excess of cock partridges
is well known to be productive of much harm, for
these disappointed old bachelors Interfere with
other pairs and at times go so far as to upset both
nest and eggs. If a nest Is found deserted, and
the eggs broken or displaced, a fox Is nearly
certain to be blamed, especially If a fight between
the two cock birds has occurred, and a few
feathers are scattered around as the result of the
scrimmage. Even if unpaired cock partridges do
not go so far as to disturb a sitting bird they
linger round the nest attempting to fight the cock
belonging to it, and such a scent is diffused
around that a passing fox can hardly fail to
detect It.

Like sporting dogs, foxes vary as regards keen-
ness of scenting faculties, some having better
noses than others. A particular fox also will be
found to have a nose for a particular thing ; for

112 Gallic and Foxes.

instance, taking pheasant nests and leaving those
of partridges alone. Others are keen at finding
leverets, while some are riverside hunters, which
subsist largely on water-hens, water-rats, and like
delicacies. Foxes certainly entertain different
ideas of what is good.

French, or red-legged, partridges are more
reliable breeders than the native variety in a
hunting country, which fact is principally attribut-
able to their habit of nesting on pollard trees,
ricks, and in other positions not easy of access to
Reynard. There the broods are hatched safe
from his interference. However, there is a time
when the fox plays havoc with the red -legs ; on a
heavy soil the surface is often sticky during
winter, and the French partridges, having a
preference for using their legs, become encum-
bered with soil attached thereto, and can neither
run nor fly. Then Reynard takes heavy toll of
their numbers.

Few readers may know that foxes are exceed-
ingly fond of ripe wild fruits (as any one may
see who takes the trouble to examine their excreta
during the autumn), such as raspberries, black-
berries, &c. It is not suggested that the pro-
vision of this will save the game, but it goes to
prove that a fox is not as strictly carnivorous as is

General Remarks. 113

generally supposed, and when consuming one

I thing he is not eating another. Perhaps, Reynard's

I favourite fruit is gooseberries dead-ripe, for cubs

kept as pets have been known to clear a bush

I completely of its crop.

A covert in which foxes are carefully preserved,
and left undisturbed, is occasionally drawn blank,
to the consternation and bewilderment of the
owner, and it will not be out of place to relate
several peculiar influences which have caused the
needful to be lacking. In one case a boy was
employed to scare rooks from a field newly sown
with wheat neai a fox- covert, and the morninof
hounds w^ere expected managed to get possession
of a tin horn, w hich he blew with what under other
circumstances would have been commendable skill
and perseverance. When hounds came every fox
had left that covert some hours before, and it was
drawn blank the hrst time for many seasons. In
another case rabbits had been tainted out for
shooting, and the gas-tar used had proved too
much for the foxes. In yet another instance a
well-known covert was enclosed with iron fencing,
and the proprietor took it into his head to dress
this with tar just before the opening of the hunting
season. The smell was, of course, outrageous,
and as it lasted for weeks not a fox remained in

I

114

Gayne and Foxes.

the covert. Even after the smell vanished the tar
was sticky on the rails, and foxes refused to pass
through till it had dried and no longer adhered to
their coats. These are a few striking reasons for
coverts being drawn blank, and before giving way
to suspicion it would be well for Hunt authorities
on similar occasions to search deeply into the real
cause.

If foxes happen to be scarce, very unkind
remarks are at times made concerning local
shooting men and their keepers, for which there
may not be the slightest justification ; it is
decidedly wrong to indulge in these maledictions,
for others are more likely to be deserving of
blame, although the shooting man and the keeper
are supposed to be the only persons having an
interest in destroying foxes. It is a most unwise
thing for a Hunt to give any man a reputation for
dealing harshly with foxes, for there is always
plenty of people ready to take advantage of such
an individual's reputed guilt and indulge freely in
vulpecide, with the certainty that suspicion will
never fall their way, and that all the blame will be
ascribed to the party already bearing so bad a
name. When foxes have been found poisoned,
and the culprit responsible detected, the author
has known neighbours to continue poisoning

General Remarks. 115

because they foresaw that the death of every fox
subsequently found would be attributed to the
man proved guilty and the baits he had already
placed down.

A shooting man who does his best to provide
foxes is a far greater friend to the Hunt than a
follower of hounds who does no more, and should
be treated fairly in every way. The author knew
an estate in the centre of a big shooting district
on which foxes were always treated fairly, while
over a wide surrounding area it w^as doubtful if
they ever received fair play. The consequence
Avas the coverts on this estate were not drawn as
frequently as they should have been, while those
around were regularly visited by hounds. Because
the owner was an acknowledged friend of foxes
his estate was regarded as a reservoir to feed the
neighbourhood, and he was expected to breed and
keep foxes to stock the whole country-side. This
was taking an unfair advantage of his goodwill,
and there could have been practised no better
way of alienating him.

I 2

CHAPTER XIII.

FOXES AND LAMBS.

The heading of this chapter may strike readers
as not strictly within the scope of a work of this
character, but, in the interests of the preservation
of foxes, it will not be out of place to describe
how Reynard is tempted to interfere with lambs,
and the best method of preventing such inter-
ference.

First of all, if a fox does steal a lamb it is
from dire necessity, and because of a lack of
other food ; in a game-preserving country he will
never be driven to such straits, and it is rare
indeed that he there succumbs to the attractions
of young mutton. Farmers should remember
this when inclined to grumble at slight damage
inflicted by game on their crops, for the presence
of the game of which they complain may be the
means of saving them from more serious losses —
just as it induces men to poach who might
otherwise steal fowls.

Foxes and Lambs. 117

When speaking of foxes never stealing lambs
except under dire necessity the author is alluding
to English-bred foxes only, being thoroughly
convinced of their innocence in that respect, but
he is not so certain that foxes imported from the
far North are altogether so guiltless. Such foxes
are very different in habit to those bred in the
South. Food is scarce, they have had the run of
a large extent of moorland on which sheep
abound, and are well known to be guilty of
stealing lambs. If a visit is paid to the rocks in
which litters of cubs are bred in the far North,
plenty of evidence is to be seen that the youngsters
have had a good deal of young mutton. Should
cubs fed in this way be captured and turned down
in the South, it is only natural that for a time
they should seek to feed on similar fare. How-
ever, the plenitude of other food, if they have
been released in a preserved district, soon causes
them to take to other modes of living, and these
imported foxes rarely steal lambs after the first
season in their new home.

If here and there a fox does kill lambs the
owner or his shepherd is often much to blame. A
farmer generally establishes a lambing pen in the
fields, and all the pregnant ewes are collected
therein. As soon as lambs begin to appear foxes

I 1 8 Ga?ne and Foxes.

are attracted to the spot — and how ? Why, simply
by the cleanings or afterbirths of the ewes being
merely thrown outside the pen instead of buried
deeply out of the way. Either fox or dog will go
miles for such fare as this, and the odour, which
savours strongly of newborn lamb, attracts them
from over a long distance. If a fox is encouraged
in this way, is it to be wondered at that a lamb is
stolen when afterbirths are no longer to be had ?
Were these disposed of properly, a fox would not
consider it worth his while to visit the lambing
fold.

The same remarks apply to the dead lambs of
tender age, which the shepherd is too lazy to bury,
for these, too, are generally thrown into some
convenient ditch, or covert, where a fox can feed
on them. In this way a liking for such food is
engendered, and when dead lamb is no longer
available, that alive has to pay the penalty. A
farmer who permits his shepherd to leave dead
lambs lying about is deserving of little sympathy
should foxes attack his young flock.

Foxes are frequently blamed for killing almost
mature mutton, when dogs are the real culprits ;.
the latter feed on their victim and leave it, and a
fox passing near is attracted to the spot and alsa
enjoys a meal. The tracks of one or several foxes

Foxes and Lanihs. 119

soon obliterate those of the dogs, and, as the foot-
marks of the former only are to be seen in the
morning, foxes are at once condemned without
further inquiry. A vixen, too, is sometimes
considered guilty because a dead lamb is found
near her earth, but it may be one she has found
which a shepherd had neglected to bury.

Foxes may be kept away from a sheepfold if a
string, thoroughly dressed with Renardine, is run
all round it at a height of about fifteen inches from
the ground, and when ewes and very young lambs
are turned out each of the latter should be dressed
with Renardine twice a week on the root of the
tail. No fox will venture to touch them where
this precaution is observed, for the odour of the fluid
renders the flesh utterly distasteful to him.

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200,000

PHEASANTS' EGGS.— We are now Booking
^v-^v^v-^ Orders for the above, all laid in our own long
movable pens, moved twice weekly on to fresh ground ; all unrelated
blood. Intending purchasers will find these eggs 90 per cent, fertile,
producing Stronger Birds than wild eggi. Special advantage in large
and early orders.

y^O 000 ^^^^^^ DUCK EGGS laid in our own pens. The
^yj •\jyjy~^ ducks have tree access to a clean river; they are
small, well marked, and first-rate flyers. The farm can be seen any day by
appointment, when gentlemen or their keepers will be met at East
Wmch Station, G.E.R. (two miles). For price list and particulars, apply

S. J. »^.-,

Norfolk Game Farm, West Bilney, King's Lynn.

We can book orders for a large number of healthy pheasant poults and
full-winged pheasants for shooting for delivery when required.

Game Foods of all Description Specially Manu-

factured by Ourselves. Unrivalled in Quality,

Send for Price List.

Advertisemenls.

One tin of Renardine will save scores of pheasant
or partridge nests from foxes and moles. Thousands of
tins are sold every year for this purpose. Purchasers
recommend it to their friends and send repeat orders.

BRWARE OF IMITATIONS.

On the

following two pages
particulars are given of

Penardine

the cheapest and surest means
of protecting

GAME f^om FOXES.

RENARDINE — 3/- per quart tin, carriage paid.

Sole Manufacturers and Proprietors : —

GILBERTSON & PAGE, LTD., Game Food Mfctrs.,

KEBTFORD. HERTS.

Advertisemejits.

You Need

NOT LOSE A SINGLE

PHEASANT,

RENARDINE?\v PARTRIDGE, OR

HOW DOES IT XX GROUSE NEST

PROTECT CAME \v^ THROUGH FOXES

FROM FOXES ?

You Won't
If you Use
RENARDINE
Properly.

f^enardii ne is a strong-
smelling fluid,
;iving off a very disagreeable
odour. It was introduced by
us in 1895, and is the first pre-
paration put on the market for the
purpose of protecting sitting g<ime
from foxes and vermin. Its efficacy
lies in the fact that its odour effectually
drowns all scent given off by birds sitting
on nests, even at the critical time when
the eggs are hatching. It is only necessary to
make a circle round the nest with the fluid at a
distance of about three or four feet from it. Foxes
will pass the nest without discovering it.
Denardine is harmless to Foxes. Sitting birds take no

^^~~^^^^^~ notice of it.
Denardine is easily and quickly used and is cheap. One tin
will be sufficient for from twenty to thirty nests, and
at a low esti.nate will save you 200 eggs, which, at only
6d. a-piece, are worth ;^5 as eggs, and much more as young
pheasants or partridges.
Denardine is not an experiment or a speculation. It has
proved its efficacy during the past ten years.

REPEAT ORDERS SHOW APPRECIATION. . WE GET THEM FOR RENARDINE.

Order one tin of

Renardine as a trial

It

will convince
you that what we claim for it
is true. Sce next page.

Fricc 3'- per linart tin, carrid'je paid.
Pamplilet containing directions for use,
and testimonials from game preservers,
post free. Address : FOXKS & CJ.\I\1E,

GILBERTSON & PAGE, Ltd.,
HERTFORD, HERTS.

Advertisements.

NOTICE.

TO ALL MASTERS OF FOXHOUNDS.
TO ALL GAMEKEEPERS.

The Problem of FOXES & GAME ia solved by

GILBERTSON
Sl PAGE'S

RENARDINE

PROVED BY THE EXPERIENCE OF THE LAST TEN YEARS

You will be blamed by others if you do not use " Kenardine,''
and, more than that, you will blame yourself.

Ace

^\\

t^^ .at^^'

vW-^^

c^*^

Si^^'

#^

^^^^<'-^^'^-

^^^

'RENARDONE' DS HARMLESS
TO FOXES.

* RENARDINE' PROTECTS

The pheasants in the aviaries,

The sitting pheasant, partridge, or

grouse.
The young birds on the rearing-field,
The birds after turned in covert.
The farmers poultry,

FROM FOXES.

Pamphlet containing full particulars and
directions for use and testimonials
post free.

NOVEMBER, 1899.

" I can say from experience that a nest in any
position is safe from dogs or foxes if surrounded by
a circle of 'Renaroine.' Last year my keeper
showed me a partridge sitting on her nest in a
covert where hounds found eight times. He ran a
tracing of 'Renardine' round it. She hatched out
all her eggs, though within £0 yards of an earth
where a litter was being reared. A partridge
nested by the side of a footpath running through
two small coverts where there were three litters.
She hatched off all her eggs undisturbed by dogs
or foxes.

"Charles G. Edwards (Coionel),

" Wicklesham, Faringdon."

NOVEMBER, 1905.

"I consider • Renardine' the best thing ever
offerpd to the public for the protection of game. In
1902 I had a litter of foxes about 150 yards from my
bird field, where I had 1,8C0 pheasants. My master
would not allow me to lift the young foxet, so I got
two tins of vour 'Renardine' and soaked some
string with it. This I put at a height of about
18 inches from the ground round the field and
brushed it over three times a week with
' Renardine.' I did not lose a single pheasant with
foxes.

" THOMAS BCTLER, Head Gamekeeper,
•' Poyuters, Cobham, Surrey."

Adveriisemenis.

OUTDOOR REQUISITES

IKT GrlE\.-El A.'^ "V^A-mEST-X-.

Patent

DROP FENCING

for Rabbits, etc.

At least 900 yards
can be droj^ped at
one pull ; con-
sequently, by
placing the ter-
minus in a central
position, and
pulling with each
hand, about a mile
of netting can be
dropped in an
instant.

Special estimates
on receipt of
particulars of
requirements.

No. 607.

KEEPERS' WATCH HUT.

Size, 8ft. by 6ft.
Cash price, carriage paid,

£11.

Stove and Chimney,
37/6.

MOVABLE PENS FOR PHEASANT BREEDING.

Cash Prices.

Carriage Paid.
Single Pen, 12ft. sq.,

£4 10.
Six Pens, ^£23 O.
Twelve Pens,
£44 O.
Spfcidl I'st iiixi fi'.< gill H
vpo/t receipt of part i<'-
vfars of requirements

Latest Illustrated Catalogue of Requisites for
the Stable, Kennel, Poultry Yard, Park
Estate, Garden, &c., free on application.

BOULTON &. PAUL, LTD
MANUFACTURERS, r NORWICH.

A(h'er/isenic!i/s.

GUN MAKER, BY

m 1

GUN MAKER, BY

WARRANTS OF

fe^-fi

WARRANTS OF

APPOINTMENT, TO

APPOINTMENT, TO

HIS MAJESTY

■wl!^

H.R.H.

THE KING.

aIIf^

PRINCE CHRISTIAN.

H.I.M. THE ;,.i^

M^W' W

H.R.H.

GERMAN EMPEROR. ^^^A£|^|H^ THE DUG DORLEANS

■^^TI^ITZES r"C5H

This Catalogue contains? the fullest particulars of Hammer, Hammerlcss, Ejector, or

Non-Ejector, Single or Double-Trigger (iuns and Eides; also how ordinary Guns may

be altered to Electors and Siugle Triggei-. ^^

Charles LANCASTER'S

Eook and Rabbit Kities with non-fouling, smooth oval bore rifling.
Lee-Enfleld, Mauser, .Maunlicher-Schonauer's Magazine Eifles.

"ROSS" straight pull MAGAZINE SPORTING RIFLES.
In -256 and -303, £l5 to £20; -370, £20 to £.25.

(W.v,' and Fiftiti'i.< Extra.

ILLUSTRATED

The "COLINDIAN" (Regi^^tered) non-fouling smooth, oval-bore Ball and Shot
(nms for Black. Cordite, or Axita Towders.

NON-FOULINC SMOOTH OVAL BORE, HICH VELOCITY "AXlTE" & "CORDITE"

SPORTING RIFLES.

FOR BIC CAME SHOOTING & DEER STALKING

•256, -303, -370, "400, Sc 450

Nickel-covered expanding Bullets; of great accuracy yet easily kept clean.

GUN, RIFLE,

Contains also full particulars of lessens and practice in shootin?, also newly-
constructed HIGH TOWER (Soft, above highest trees) for '• Eocketers " and
"driving." Also GUX FITTING 'svith Single or Two trigger "Try" Guns and

Targets ai

& CARTRIDGE

PRIVATE SHOOTING GROUNDS, NEAR WILLESDEM JUNCTION, LONDON, N W.

Tbe Art of Shooting,- 7th and revised Popular Edition. 2 6; postage 6d. extra.

CATALOGUE,

Established at 151, New Bond Street, W., in 1826. Moved to New Premises at

11, PANTON ST., HAYMARKET, LONDON, S W.

(0/,j, <-,.<//' The Comdy Tloati''.)
Tch'jrams: -'OVAL BORE LONDON."' Tch'phone : 3691, GERRARD.

A dvert'isemefiis.

THE— ^

CRANBROOK

GAME FARM,

The Proprietors are now BOOKING ORDERS for

100,000 PHEASANT EGGS, also a limited number of

Three-quarter-bred Mongolians,

Half-bred Mongolians,

Quarter-bred Mongolians,

First-cross Mongolian Prince of Wales Eggs,

2500 acres of Covert on this Farm. Enteric Disease Not Known.
Inspection Cordially invited by Gentlemen or their Gamekeepers.

Send for Illustrated Catalogue for 1906.
Article on Pheasants. Apply : —

GEORGE SALMON, Manager, MARDEN, KENT.

fAit Associate of the Game Egg Guild. J

NATIONAL TELEPHONE- ii TELEGRAMS -

1578 ROYAL (Two Exchange Lines). I I " Hakley Miller, Liverpool."

HflRLEY I MILLER, Lm,

Gatae, Rabbit, and Poultry
- SALESAEN. -

Wholesale Fish Market and Canning Dock,

^ LIVERPOOL. ^

il^^ All Commuaicatiotts to be addressed to Wholesale Fish Market.

Consignments Solicited. Best Prices Realised. Ham-
pers Supplied on Application. Correspondence
Invited. Lowest Market Charges. Cash
with Sales Daily.

Reference: -NORTH and SOUTH WALES BANK (Market Branch).

Advertisements.

a
a

o

THE

SU PPI.IES

Q

U

•

01

/^

H

<

0^

<

0.

D

PHEASANTS' EGGS

FROM

PURE CHINESE,

BLACK-NECKED,

PURE AXD CROSSED VERSICOLOR,

PURE AND CROSSED MONGOLIAN BIRDS,
which are kept in long pens and vwved twice weekly.

ALSO

PHEASANT POULTS and

PHEASANTS for PENNING

in Season.

INSPECTION OF FARM CORDIALLY INVITED.

Por Particulars and Prices, &c., apply R. Eden Richardson,
as above.

Telegrams ; " Richardson, Owslebury."

K

Advertisements.

3

VERY GOOD THINGS

WALKER, * *

HARRISON & *

GARTHWAITES,

* Ltd., *

PHCENIX
WORKS,
RATCLIFF
CROSS,
LONDON. * *

AND AT
GRIMSBY. * *

* *

* *

"YlSCHN,

u

THE MEAL

. FOR .

ALL DOGS.

"City Mem,

n

TJiE

BISCUITS
FOR DOGS.

PHCENIX QflilE

THERE ARB
NONE BBT/ER.

Foods.

THE WILTSHIRE GAME FARMS

W"^3

"WHILST I LIVE. ILL CROW."

HEST^ I»^E!.A.S-A.3>a-'TS, also OCSO^S.

ORDERS NOW H(K)KKI) for Cock or Hen rheat-antt., Old Englisli Black-
necked Breed, or Chinese, for pens or turning into covert.

150,000 PHEASANTS' EGGS for DISPOSAL

During" €0111111? Season.

Clients orderiDg early will receive distinct advantage. For terms, &c., apply

F. W. LILLYWHITE, wilts came farms, OXENWOOD, HUNCERFORD.

telegrams : " Lilly'iMhite, J'eniluiin Deun.'

Advertisements.

THE MONGOLIAN PHEASANTRY,

Near HYTHE, KENT.
Proprietor : C, E. M. RUSSELL, F.Z.S,, M.R.A,C»

(ASSOCIATE- GAME EGG GUILD).

The great success which attended the rearing of half-bred Mongolian
pheasants last (1905) season, and the very favourable reports received of
the many excellent qualities of the birds, amply prove that this cross
produces the best pheasants for sport which have ever been brought to
the gun.

The advantages claimed for this cross over ordinary pheasants are : —

I St. Extreme hardihood and ability to resist disease, which swept

off hundreds of common birds in the same rearing- field, but

not one half-bred.
2nd. As compared with other pheasants, they are non-sfrayers.
3rd. They are higher and faster flyers, and readily take wing.
4th. They are far less pugnacious than other pheas mts — in fact,

most peaceable birds.
5th. In October, they are several weeks ahead of common birds of

the same age, both in size and plumage.
6th. They are of far better flavour on the table, as well as larger

and more beautiful birds, than common pheasants.

Being one of the true Phasianidce, the Mongolian fP. Mongolians)
crosses freely with the other members of the group, such as Colchicus,
Torquattis, Versicolor, Principalis, &c., the cross-bred birds being fertile
inter se, or with any of the parent races.

The Mongolian pheasantry supplies half- and three-quarter-bred
Mongolian eggs, and a few eggs of the pure Versicolor, in April and
May, also pure and half-bred Mongolian cocks in autumn.

The pure stock was derived from birds imported by Herr Carl
Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, who is, so far as I am aware, the sole importer
of these magnificent birds. He obtains them from the Altai mountains
in Mongolia. Fraudulent attempts are made to palm off cross-bred
birds, reared chiefly upon the Continent, as pure, and intending
purchasers of pure Mongolians who do not happen to be acquainted with
the plumage of P. Mongolicus, should first visit the Zoological Gardens,
Regents Park, and study the bird there. I have had cock birds
supplied me as pure which had far less Mongolian blood in them than
the half-breds reared by myself last season.

I am at all times very pleased to show sportsmen over the Pheasantry,
and can send to meet them, either to Westenhanger Station (i| mile), or
Sandling Junction (25 milesi.

January, 1906. Ch.JlRLES E. M. Russell.

Advertiseinents.

HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGES.

GUARANTEED GEXUINE, and NOT FROM GERMANi:

Only Selected, Strong, Healthy, Wild, and
Freshly-Caught Birds Sent.

Delivery Direct from Austria-Kung'arian^Estates.

LOWEST PRICES. • FIRST-CLASS REFBRESCES.

Booklet on Management Post Free.

MONGOLIAN PHEASANTS.

Guaranteed Pure. Yearly supply limited.

WILO HUNGARIAN BLACK-NECKEO PHEASANTS.

The old English dark-necked kind.

VERSICOLORS,

and all other 'kinds of Fancy Pheasants.

FRENCH PARTRIDGES, GROUSE, BLACKGAME,
CAPERCAILZIES, WATERFOWL.

UpiLinW Pm I A UT ^^' Biieklersbury, Queen

■■EiIXf\¥ r\0%^%mr^W\.^ Victoria Street, liondon, B.C.
— >iole agent for —
F. A. FINDEIS, Vienna, (Austria=Hungary).

ESTABLISHED BANKERS:

1834- Maxche.vTer & Liverpool District Bankixg Co., Ltd.,

Spring Gardens, Manchester.

JOHN DONALDSON,

GAME, POULTRY and RABBIT SALESMAN.

SMITHFIELD MARKET, MANCHESTER,

Tdec/rams : John Donaldson, Manchester.

WILLIAM BRAZIL,

NEWNHAM PHEASANTRIES, KIDMORE, READING.

Pheasants for Shootlngm
Pheasants for Stockm •

Pheasant Eggs in Season, also Wild Duck Eggs.

Advertisements.

SMOKELESS

DIAMOND.

II

SPORTSMEN
SHOULD USE

MARVELLOUSLY

SMOKELESS
DIAMOND

LOADED WIJH

DIAMOND ^^>
GUNPOWDER }

To be
obtained
through any
Gunmakcr or
Dealer.

WHOLESALE ONLY

QUICK

CURTIS'S & HARVEY, LTD..

NOTES
- on -
SHOOTING.'

Ninth Edition
price 6d., post free

3. GRAGEGHURGH ST., E.G.

. VjtAlNOUS P4,

W (Dr. Balmain's.) ' •

Full assortment for practical use, with priming brushes, etc., n

the guinea box. Luminous Disc, for scaring foxes, ^^3 per 100.

Uses described on page 12 of this book. Gold Medals at Fisheries and

Healtheries Exhibition'=, London, 1883 and 1884. Manufacturer :

A. J. HORNE, 97, Bromley Road, Catford, London, S.E.

PHEflSflNTS'-™ EGGS.

JUNE BGQS GUARANTBED EQUAL JO
. EARLY ONES. .

From a Stock of over 4,500 Bird?, including Chinese.

Cm. W. FREEMAN,

M«nor House, Beckford. Tewkesbury, and
Tlioriiioii Dale. Firkerhi^, Vorks.

Advertisemejits.

HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGES.

Mr. CARL SCHAIBLE,of Ulm-Donau,over 30 years dire t importrr. Contraf'tor to
H.M.'s Government, supplies. October-Maich, several thousand TRUE COUPLES
of FRESH CAUGHT PARTRIDGES. Arrivals alive guaranteed. References in
all parts of tbc United Kingdom.
V \ ^Wl\ Established 1870. Apply

ROE DEER,

DARK-
NECKED

PHEAS-
ANTS.

CarlSchaible.Ulm=DonauiWurtfemblrq)

CAPER
CAILZIE

BLACK
CAME.

PHEASANT EGGS.

Orders booked in advance from a stock of healthy-
unrelated birds. Adults and poults in season.

JAS. MILES,

THE PHEASANTRIES. BALLINCER,
GREAT MISSENDEN,

BUCKS.

SPECIAL LOW PRICES FOR LARGE ORDERS.

From a large stock of birds of the ringed or ringless breed. All hens on
this Game Farm have been caught up in woods, and wild cocks have been
brought from other estates. The eggs will be found to hatch between 80
to 90 per cent., and produce strong, healthy birds. Birds are in large pens,
five hens to one cock; 105 eggs to the 100 for cash with order. ]3irds
always on view. Wild Duck Fggs. Eggs carefully packed for abroad.
Correspondence in French, German, and Itiilian. Hungarian Partridges
supplied in season.

TUFWELL, GAME FARM, SUDBURY, SUFFOLK,
RABBIT arid VERMIN TRAPS.

Catalogue on Application,

HENRY LANE, ^^t\il, WEDNESFiELD.

Advertuements.

. . THE . .

AVEST SUSSEX
GAME FARM,

WARNHAM, HORSHAM.

(LATE MID Bucks. Est. 1866.)

Any number of Genuine Pheasants and Pheasant's
Eggs supplied in season. Please apply: —

John Beesonm

STABLING

IN WOOD & IRON.

Best Materials and
Construction only,
at Mo derate Prices.

ESTIMATES FREE.

STIMPSON & CHAMBERS

EXPERT DESIGNERS & MANUFACTURERS OF

IMPROVED PORTABLE BUILDINGS

OF EVERY
DESCRIPTION.

PONDERS END, N,

HUNTSNG,
SHOOTING Sl
FISHING

LODGES.

BUNGALOWS.

PAVILIONS FOR

ALL SPORTS,

MOTOR-CAR

HOUSES, &0.,&C.

Tufts UniversSy'"''^'^''^*''"^^^
• 200 Westboro Road

North Grafton, MA 01536

CHAMBEI^LIN'S

Pheasants' Food . . .
Wild Duck Meal . . .
Special Partridge Meal
Special Grouse Food .

CHAMBERLIN'8 KALYDE,

An Infallible Cure for

Gapes in Pheasants and Chiciens, 2/4 per tin, post free.

Write for the New Boole of Prices, with Treatise on Pheasant Rearing,
Free by Post.

Purveyors of Game Food, by Special - -
. . Warrant, to His Majesty the King,

CHAIVIBERLIN & SMITH,

GAME and POULTRY FOOD MAKERS,
POST OFFICE STREET, NORWICH.