BLOODTHIRST.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Bra,—May I add another exception or two, drawn from my own experience, to the rather sweeping statement made in your article on " Bloodthirst," in the Spectator of September 19th, that animals do not, like the Sultan, kill other animals for the mere pleasure or lust of killing? The fox positively auxuriates in that pastime when he gets the chance; and aence the extreme care taken by keepers, by every means in their power, by dogs, by lanterns, and by yells which make a midsummer night hideous, to scare away a fox from the 'sacred precincts in which they are rearing their young pheasants. The circumstances of one case I remember accurately, from the way in which the calamity was announced. I was staying at the house of Sir William Smith 'Marriott, in Dorset, some few years ago, when the butler came into his master's room one morning with a very long face. 4- There's very bad news," he said, "this morning. Poor Mr. — (mentioning the name of a clergyman in an adjoining village) has been and gone and hung himself. And that's not the worst of it, Sir William, that there fox has
• broken into your preserves again, and killed twenty-five of your young pheasants !" He had given one nip to each, but that was enough. Where it had been nipped, there it lay down dead. An old rat will deal with full-grown young ,chickens in a precisely similar way. I remember seeing seven lying in perfect order in my hen-house at Harrow, with hardly a feather ruffled and still warm, in the middle of the after- noon. As I came in, he went out. I have known two dogs starting wildly about in company amongst a lot of chickens, and killing them right and left,—a closer parallel to what has been taking place in the Turkish Empire. Finally, I am sorry to say, the golden eagle itself is not altogether above killing unnecessarily. I remember a few years ago at Inverlair, Inverness-shire, the keeper managed to climb the rock on which one of those magnificent birds had her eyrie. The nest contained one addled egg, which I possess, and one young, half-grown bird. By its side ranged neatly in order lay three hares, nine rabbits, and thirteen grouse,—a truly royal larder for a truly royal bird. I might multiply instances, but these are probably enough.—I am, Sir, lac.,
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