HUNTING 119 



tributed the absence of evolutionary change noted 

 in an earHer portion of this book. So well 

 have they served their owner that Mother Nature 

 has not found it necessary to introduce any 

 noticeable chansre in the structure or habits of 

 the little red rascal, in spite of such adverse 

 factors as the increase of the human population, 

 reclamation and enclosure of land, preservation 

 of game, and the improvement in agriculture. 



Once, at a meet of the Badsworth Hounds near 

 Ackworth, a small spinney at the summit of the 

 railway cutting was drawn — and drawn blank. 

 A goodly company was present, and after this 

 failure the hounds, followed by the field, moved 

 off down an old lane which had a fallow field on 

 its left. Their departure was watched by the 

 writer, who was waiting for a train. Standing 

 on a wall to obtain a better view, the writer 

 noticed something in a furrow of the aforemen- 

 tioned fallow field distant less than two hundred 

 yards. Said he to a railway porter standing 

 near: "That looks remarkably like a fox coiled 

 up in the furrow." The porter, after prolonged 

 gazinor, thoucrht it was a labourer's jacket, but 

 volunteered to o^o and see. He went down the 

 adjoining hedge side, and arriving opposite the 

 suspicious object shouted out: "It's th'owd var- 

 mint, reight enough." He threw a clod of earth, 



