EVERLASTING QUESTION 119 



found and eaten the last chick, and then 

 lie up in ambush to wait the return of 

 the anxious mother. To compete against 

 an antagonist of such calibre, year in and 

 year out, with any measure of success 

 demands ready resource and fertile inven- 

 tion. 



The staple food of the fox is the rabbit ; 

 rabbits must then abound where foxes 

 have to be entertained, to the sad detri- 

 ment of park, woodland and garden, but 

 yet essential for the safety of henroost 

 and game preserve. Not every fox by 

 any means hunts regularly for game, but 

 — like other lapses from virtue — the habit, 

 once acquired soon becomes the ruling 

 passion of the individual. 



The worst enemies to game are the 

 mangy -fox, whose loathsome disease 

 denies him rest and drives him to hunt 

 by day as well as night, the half-tame, 

 hand-reared cub, which hunt authorities 

 are only too fond of turning down, who 

 has lost half his natural fear of man and 

 his devices, and the vixen with a litter of 



