| £ | s. | d. | |
| “1806, March 30.—Needham’s boy for a fox | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| “1806, April 6.—Paid for foxes | 0 | 16 | 3½ |
| “1814, April 11.—Paid for foxes | 1 | 12 | 2½” |
The slaughter of foxes, even in the 19th century, was thus remunerated at the rate of 1s. each; yet, in Woodhall, they would seem to have been so plentiful, that for such services, with other incidental expenses (such, probably, as traps, &c.), as much as £1 12s. 2½d. was paid in one year. Since those days, there has been a reaction in public sentiment. Nous avons changé tout cela, and instead of putting a price on Reynard’s head, we value his brush, and give him general protection.
[57] This is confirmed by the late Sir John Astley, who states that, as a boy, he often gave wood-pigeons, rabbits, and rats to a litter of fox cubs, kept by their keeper within a wire fence, and they almost invariably preferred the rat.—“Fifty Years of My Life,” by Sir J. Astley. Vol. i., p. 245.
[61] “Hinerarium,” vol. vi., p. 58, 1710.
[62a] Part of the Glebe of Kirkby-on-Bain.
[62b] I take haphazard two or three entries from my shooting diary, recording the produce of a morning’s walk, alone, on the moor, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. “Oct. 4, 1874.—9 hares, 8 pheasants, 3 brace of partridges, 2 couple of rabbits, 3 woodpigeons, 2 waterhens.” “Oct. 1877.—10 hares, 7 pheasants, 4½ brace of partridges, 2 woodcock, 2 couple of rabbits.” “Jan. 29, 1878.—5 pheasants, 4 hares, 2 brace of partridges, 2½ couple of rabbits, 3 woodcock, 2 woodpigeon, 1 waterhen, 2 snipe.”
[63] The bag that day (Nov. 1877) was 352 hares, 14 pheasants, 8 partridges, 4 rabbits. I also find the following brief entry: “Nov. 7, 1878—Shot with a party in Kirkstead, killing to my own gun nearly 60 hares.” And again, “Oct. 19, 1876. Shot with a friend in Kirkstead, 15 brace of partridges, 6 brace of pheasants, and 10 hares.” To show that the Kirkstead and Tattershall shootings still maintain their excellence, I give here the bag on a more recent occasion. “Oct. 12, 1894.—In Kirkstead a party shot, in the open, 70 brace of partridges, 1 pheasant, and 110 hares.” At Tattershall in the same year a party killed 531 hares in three days. I have mentioned above, the Tattershall shooting as being “nearly as good as that of Kirkstead.” I give here a note or two of sport on that estate: “Sep. 21, 1876.—Shot with Mr. S. (the lessee of the shooting) the Witham side of Tattershall. Bag: 25 hares, 9 brace of partridges.” “Sep. 25.—Shot on the same ground, 7 hares, 26 brace of partridges.” On the Woodhall ground, hares were always few in number, the soil not seeming to suit them; but among partridges I have shared in good sport. I give two entries as samples: “Sep. 16, 1873.—Shot with Captain H. (lessee of the shooting) 30½ brace of partridges and 2 hares.” And again, “Nov. 16, 1872.—Shot for the third day, Bracken Wood. Total bag, rather more than 400 pheasants in the three days; rabbits, over 150, and 20 woodcock.”
[65] Other instances of albinos are not uncommon, but more among birds than quadrupeds. I find among my notes the following: “Albino shrew mouse caught at Ackworth, near Pontefract, June, 1895; white robin at Whitby, Jan., 1896; ditto at Boston, Sept., 1898; white woodcock nested in Manby Woods, near Louth, with four young of the usual colour, July, 1892; buff woodcock shot at Bestwood, Nottingham, Feb. 1892; white landrail shot at Kedleston, near Derby, Sept., 1892; white thrush caught at Nidderdale, November 1892; cream-coloured skylark shot near Harrogate, Sept., 1891; white jay—two young specimens shot near York, 1893; white sand martin caught at Killinghall, near Harrogate, July, 1898; at Brackenborough, near Louth, there were two coveys of partridges, in the season of 1896–7, with white specimens among them: and at Stonehouse, in Gloucestershire, a covey of mixed white and brown partridges were reported in 1897. A buff hare was shot near Bourne in 1897.” A white black-buck was killed by a friend in Kattiawar, India, in 1897, and I have a stuffed specimen of buff blackbird, caught some years ago in the vicarage garden at Woodhall: the parent birds having buff young two seasons in succession.
[67] In the Southdowns, the hills are called “Downs,” and the valleys “Deans,” or sometimes by the Devonshire term “Coomb.”
[69] Essays on Natural History, Third Series, p. 169. Ed. 1857.