64: NEIGHBORS WITH CLAWS AND HOOFS. 



this I could call a fox toward me if the mice were not 

 near me, and I got a great many shots that I otherwise 

 would not have had ; and, of course, every time I had a 

 shot it meant another fox added to my list. The whistle 

 not only drew foxes to me that were in the field, but it 

 brought them into the field, for a fox can hear a mouse's 

 squeal for a long distance. 



8. "I used to have great sport hunting foxes in an- 

 other way, peculiarly my own. My observations of the 

 habit of foxes led to the discovery that, early in the fall 

 and winter mornings, they sought wood-lots where fire 

 had been through, and where many charred stumps and 

 trunks of trees were standing. I have seen as many as 

 ten foxes in a group in a lot of this kind, but they gener- 

 ally were seen trotting leisurely along among the black- 

 ened stumps, stopping now and then to look cautiously 

 about. I never could find out why foxes sought this 

 place ; but I never failed to find at least one in any lot I 

 visited. I noticed another peculiarity about foxes when 

 I studied them among these burned trees. A fox would 

 trot along for probably ten rods, when suddenly he would 

 give a little kick or twitch with one hind-leg, stop, and 

 invariably turn his head and look back over his shoulder. 

 I observed this at different times in different foxes, and 

 concluded that it was a natural characteristic of the 

 species. 



9. " I determined to make this little piece of knowl- 

 edge result in adding to my list of successes in fox-hunt- 

 ing. Although I saw so many foxes in burned wood-lots, 

 it was seldom that I could get a shot at any of them, as 

 they were so cautious, and to get within shooting distance 

 was impossible. The shots I did get were the result of 

 accident, a fox now and then coming toward where I hid. 

 So I hit upon a plan that would be systematic, and, I 



