Red Fox 



I have more than once seen a fox turn and drive the 

 hounds back when they got too close; so he trots along at 

 his leisure, husbanding his strength and scheming to keep out 

 of the way of the hunter. From time to time he will go back 

 in his own footsteps for a distance, and then leap away to 

 one side and go off in a new direction. Again he runs along 

 on top of a rail fence or stone wall, or over the wet stones of 

 a shallow brook. 



One of his favourite tricks is to cross over deep water on 

 thin ice just strong enough to bear him, knowing that in all 

 probability the hounds will break though, and perhaps be swept 

 under the ice if the current is strong enough; more than one 

 valuable dog has been drowned in this manner, but I have 

 never known a fox to miscalculate the strength of the ice and 

 break through himself. If the stream is not wholly frozen over, 

 he runs along at the very edge of the deep water, where the 

 ice is thin and treacherous, until he comes to a place where he 

 can jump across to the thin ice that reaches out from the 

 opposite bank. 



Then away he goes across the meadows, headed for some 

 sheltered nook he knows of, where he may curl up in the sun 

 on the warm pine needles and sleep until the noisy hounds, 

 footsore and apparently all but exhausted, come panting up to 

 awake him. When the snow is very light and dry, and just 

 deep enough to make it harder for the fox than for the hounds, he 

 has a much worse time of it; but it much oftener happens 

 that while the hounds plunge in up to their breasts at every 

 step, he skips off over the white surface without breaking 

 through. Although he knows of three or four dens within easy 

 reach, it is only when wounded or tired out by a long run in 

 light snow that an old fox ever takes to earth, though last 

 season's cubs sometimes become frightened when the hounds 

 get too close, and allow themselves to be driven in. 



Except in very rough weather, foxes prefer to sleep in the 

 open air, in cool weather choosing the south side of a hill away 

 from the wind. 



While they do most of their hunting in the morning and 

 evening twilight, they are up and about more or less at all hours 

 of the day and night, and are frequently to be seen out after 

 game at high noon in the hottest part of the summer, or sitting on 



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