WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



of the sand-hills, I never heard one that quite satisfied my 

 mind. Whatever it once was, it is now a mere barren waste, 

 or, as a friend of mine named it, a kind of Arabia Infelix, 

 inhabited only by wild animals; and it seems a wonder 

 that even these have not long ago been starved out of it. 

 Whatever the rabbits and hares feed on, they are larger 

 there than in the more cultivated and fertile parts of the 

 country; and the foxes are like wolves in size and strength. 

 Owing to the solitude and quietness of the place, I have 

 seenthefoxes at all hours ofthedayprowlingabout,or bask- 

 ing in the sun, or sometimes coolly seated on the top of a 

 sandhill watching my movements. I have occasionally fall- 

 en in with their earth or breeding-place. The quantity of re- 

 mains of different animals, which they have broughtto these 

 places to feed their young, proves the fox to be a most uni- 

 versal depredator. Turkeys which have been caught at 

 several miles' distance,tame geese from the farms, and wild 

 geese from the sea-shore; fowls,ducks,pheasants,andgame 

 of every kind, including old roe that have been wounded, 

 and young roe too weak to resist their attacks, all appear 

 to form part of this wily robber's larder. H e also takes home 

 to his young any fish that he finds on the shore, or that he 

 can catch in the shallow pools of the streams during the 

 night time. No animal is cunning enough to escape the fox; 

 wild duck or wood-pigeon (the most wary of all birds) fall 

 to his share. Patient and cunning, the fox finds out the pool 

 where the mallard and his mate resort to in the evenings, 

 and lying in wait to the leeward of the place, in some tuft 

 of rushes, catches the bird before it can take wingf. One 

 night, seven ofmy domesticated wild ducks were taken from 



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