CH. VIII.] FOXES V. GAME. 253 



running amuck during the night, and his or their 

 bag had amounted (I think) to forty-eight. Of 

 this number two only were missing, the corpses of 

 the remainder lying scattered here and there, as 

 if they had just been nipped and left where they 

 were caught. So little signs of violence did they 

 exhibit, that only two, I believe, out of the whole 

 number were minus their heads. The position of 

 one bird was very remarkable, as shewing the trouble 

 taken by the fox in the attainment of his nefarious 

 ends. One side of the piece of grass in which the 

 birds lay was separated by a somewhat deep and 

 broad ditch from a rather high bank, topped by a 

 blackthorn hedge which rose fully six feet above it. 

 It was easy in the long dewy grass to follow the 

 tracks of the fox or foxes, one of which led me to 

 the ditch. This he had crossed, and, pursuing the 

 investigation, I found to my surprise that he had 

 actually worked his way right up the centre to the 

 top of the hedge, caught and killed there a phea- 

 sant which had doubtless flown thither for refuge, 

 left it there as evidence against himself, and 

 descended again by the way that he went up. 

 There could be no doubt of the fact, for, the hedge 

 being a thick one, he had left on the thorns no 

 inconsiderable quantity of his coat en route. 



