HUNTING 115 



untimely ends, one being killed by dogs, whilst the 

 other met a still more tragic fate. Once, when 

 hunting rats at Bedford station, the catch of the 

 lead to which the fox was attached got loose, and 

 the fox, becoming alarmed at some strangers who 

 were participating in the sport, went off. Some 

 three weeks later a gamekeeper, when going his 

 rounds about a mile from the old man's house, 

 came across a fox and shot him. On picking up 

 the body he discovered a collar, which he recog- 

 nised, and be it said it was with orreat sorrow that 

 he went and informed the old man of the affair. 

 There is no doubt the fox was making his way 

 back to his home and his master, and if that 

 assumption is correct, it indicates a homing instinct 

 that foxes are not generally credited with. 



John Gaunt has kept terriers and foxes for over 

 twenty-five years, and he has never succeeded in 

 obtaining a litter of half-bred puppies or cubs, and 

 gives it as his opinion that he never will. 



I believe it is very seldom that wild animals of 

 the same species engage in a fight to a finish, so I 

 relate an incident that happened in Ireland. In a 

 small cover, of about an acre in extent, two vixens 

 lay up with cubs, one selecting a shallow earth under 

 the roots of a tree, the other a mere excavation in 

 the bank that formed a fence round the cover. Both 

 litters arrived about the same time; then, apparently. 



