IMPUDENCE OF FOXES 19 



tions are in connection with a tame fox which we 

 as children were in the habit of feeding. A 

 large, beautiful animal he was, too, and lived to 

 a good old age. 



Of what a fox is capable may be conjectured 

 by the following anecdote, which, together with 

 an illustration, appeared in one of the principal 

 sporting papers a few years ago : A hunted fox, 

 when passing a farmyard, was seen to snap up 

 and carry off a goose, though at the time the 

 hounds were within but a field of him. On another 

 occasion I happened to be returning from fishing, 

 in the dusk of a September evening, through a 

 stubble-field, at the end of which some few shocks 

 of corn had been purposely left standing. When 

 half across the field, I heard the cries of a leveret 

 in distress, proceeding apparently from the direc- 

 tion of the shocks. I supposed that it must have 

 been caught in a wire. As I neared the place 

 the cries ceased, and it being too dark to see 

 clearly, I lighted a match, and looked in amongst 

 the sheaves, when out darted a fox. I was unable 

 to see if it was carrying anything, but just caught 

 sight of its brush as it whisked round the sheaves 

 on the far side, and bolted off, as I suspected, 

 into a small patch of osiers close at hand. Follow- 

 ing it up as quickly as I could, and lighting another 

 match, I heard it break away again, evidently 

 still retaining its hold of the leveret, whose cries 

 were audible until lost in the far distance. A 

 pretty determined piece of poaching, as a September 



