112 SOLDIER AND SPORTSMAN 



senses are dulled to an appreciable extent. Any- 

 one who has received a severe blow when the 

 blood is circulating freely has noticed that the 

 pain following the blow is considerably less than 

 it would be were it received in cold blood. Thus 

 it follows that whether Nature has arranged that 

 such should be the case to lessen the pain and fear 

 of destruction, or merely that it is a physiological 

 accident, the effects are the same. 



Cunning and intelligence are not very far re- 

 moved from one another, but it is a high-class 

 form of either that will make a fox when hunted 

 go straight to where he knows another is kennelled, 

 push him out, and coil himself up in the spot just 

 vacated. That not infrequently happens. A fox 

 that has been hunted a few times seems to acquire 

 an uncanny knowledge regarding scent ; on a bad- 

 scenting day foxes will lie very close, trusting to be 

 overlooked, and when afoot it is a difficult matter 

 to get them to break cover. At full stretch a fox 

 can cover the ground at an extraordinary pace for 

 his size. This can be noted by the footprints when 

 discernible in snow ; they indicate a mode of pro- 

 gression somewhat different from most other fleet- 

 footed animals. Thus, all the footmarks are at an 

 equal distance the one from the other, and are in an 

 exact line, identical with the prints of a galloping 

 horse. 



