Sept., 1909.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 59 



feet of water. This reed-bed is a favourite nesting-place of swans 

 and other wild-fowl. A few months ago a stockman, who waded 

 in to find a swan's nest, was amazed, when he found the nest, to 

 see a fox curled up in it. He had eaten the eggs, and was taking 

 a well-deserved sleep. The fox at once sprang into the water 

 and swam for the land, where, fortunately, an eager hound was 

 waiting for him. 



A favourite occupation of the fox is to stalk ducks and swans 

 and geese around the margin of a lake or creek. One moonlit 

 night not long ago a duck-shooter, who was camped at the side 

 of a lake waiting for the ducks to come in, suddenly noticed a 

 fox stealing cautiously down to the water. The fox kept low in 

 the grass and crept very slowly along. His eyes were all the 

 while on the water, and the reeds that fringed it. When he got 

 to the margin of the lake he crept cautiously along. As this 

 happened to bring him within easy range of the sportsman, 'a 

 charge of shot settled one poacher. The sportsman then found 

 the mangled remains of three ducks along the lake shore. 

 Judging from the remains found at the earths of foxes in the 

 Western lake country, the menu of the fox consists chiefly of 

 hare and swan. Both the swan and the hare are very plentiful, 

 but it is certain that large numbers are killed by foxes. The 

 Cape Barren goose, which visits these plains every summer, is 

 another of the fox's victims. This goose does not go out into 

 deep water, like the ducks and swans, but stays in the shallows, 

 so that it often falls an easy prey to the fox. It is said that it 

 sleeps standing on one leg, in the water, and that the fox thus 

 cannot scent it. But I am prepared to back the fox to either see 

 or smell this large bird, especially on moonlit nights. It 

 happens, however, that the Cape Barren goose is a very shy and 

 wary bird, so that it is one thing to see it and quite another to 

 catch it. This fact probably protects it to some extent against 

 the fox. 



Incomplete as it is, the above list, it must be admitted, forms 

 a very heavy indictment. And, although in isolated districts 

 something is being done to prevent the increase of the pest, over 

 huge areas the fox is being allowed to pursue his work of 

 devastation practically unmolested. The fact that most of his 

 nefarious work is done at night gives him two great advantages — 

 it is unseen, and it is uninterrupted. During the day the fox, for 

 the most part, keeps to the cover, and is only seen by the early- 

 rising bushman when stealing home in the early dawn after a 

 night's hunting. The fox has the further advantage of being too 

 swift-footed and cunning to be caught by the average dog, and of 

 being too large and strong to be killed by the average shot. All 

 these facts, while they place difficulties in the way of his 

 destruction, at the same time call loudly for more energetic and 

 more systematic efforts to keep him in check. 



