178 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



its most congenial ground in the deer forests, and 

 a typical fox haunt is a rugged mountain side, 

 well provided with " cairns," or the tumbled 

 masses of stone that lie at the bottom of all 

 crags. If the rock is one that weathers in 

 small fragments it serves badly ; if it breaks 

 off in large boulders which lie upon one 

 another at the foot of the crags in such a 

 fashion as to leave abundant ramifying spaces 

 between, it makes an ideal fox's home. In such 

 a situation the fox is able to penetrate far among 

 the stones, and its cubs, even when followed by 

 terriers, can retreat into crannies where they are 

 perfectly secure. With such a hold as this as a 

 base Reynard may raise a family with perfect 

 success, and it is a sterile country, indeed, which 

 does not provide them with an ample livelihood. 



I had, one July day, a prolonged opportunity of 

 watching a fox family at home. The cairn in 

 which the den was situated was among the boulders 

 at the foot of a crag on the side of a high and 

 narrow glen. A keeper had found it, and was 

 returning to take offensive measures against it, 

 and we watched it through stalking glasses from 

 the opposite side of the glen. The vixen was at 

 home, and lay basking in the sun on a small patch 

 of grass and heather in front of the principal 

 entrance. Four cubs played about her, racing 

 round her, tumbling over her, waging mimic battles 

 with one another, and generally behaving in the 

 pretty manner of well -grown puppies. But there 

 was a difference. Every now and then the old fox 

 raised her watchful head and searched the valley 



