WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



track of a fox is easily mistaken for that of a dog. The print 

 is somewhat rounder,but the chiefdifference is the superior 

 neatness of the impression and the exr.ctness of the steps, 

 the hind foot just coveringthe print of thefore-foot.The fox 

 makes free with a great variety of game, and the demands 

 of his nursery require a plentiful supply. In the hills he lives 

 on lambs, sheep, grouse, and ptarmigan; in the lowcountry, 

 the staple of his prey is rabbits, where these are plentiful; 

 but nothing comes amiss to him, from the fieldmouse up- 

 wards. The most wary birds, the wood-pigeon and the wild 

 duck, do not escape him, and he destroys a considerable 

 number of the young of the roe. The honey of the wild bee 

 is one of his favourite delicacies ; and vermin trappers have 

 found no bait more effective to lure him than a piece of 

 honey-comb. His nose is very fine, and he detects the taint 

 of human footstep or hand, for days after it has been com- 

 municated. Several ways are tried for evading his suspi- 

 cions. Some trappers place three or four traps in a circle, 

 and leave them well covered for some days without any 

 bait; and at the end of that time, when all taint must have 

 left the traps, they place a bait in the centre. Another way 

 is to place the traps in shallow water, and a bait on some 

 bank wherehecannot reach it withoutrunningagoodchance 

 of treading on them. Even when the enemy is in the trap, 

 the victory is not won : and if he escapes, whether whole or 

 maimed, after being trapped, he is too well warned ever to 

 be caught again. Altogether, trapping has never been very 

 successfully practised against the fox in the Highlands, and 

 the old nativepracticeof "fox-hunting," as the professional 

 mode of killing them is called here, is still much preferred. 



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