THE FOX IN SUMMER 143 



Alas ! they holloa'd and warned Reynard off just as 

 he was about to make the fatal spring that would 

 have rid me of my plague for ever. This was the 

 only other instance of even attempted robbery in 

 six years ; and yet that covert invariably held 

 foxes, and one summer harboured two litters. 



The curious mixture of boldness and timidity, 

 which is one of the characteristics of the fox, has 

 been noticed by many writers and by all sportsmei^ 

 When a fox is once fairly away and the pursuit has 

 begun, it needs but the sight of a human being in 

 the distance to turn him from his course and cause 

 him to pass, without entering, the strongest coverts, 

 where shelter and safety seem assured. But, on the 

 other hand, when he is headed immediately after 

 breaking covert, he will return to it in spite of the 

 most strenuous efforts to ride him out, and will face 

 a field of horsemen and thread his way through them 

 with extraordinary boldness and determination. This 

 well-known fact should surely be taken into account 

 by hunting men, and should cause them implicitly 

 to obey orders and remain where they are posted 

 by the M.F.H. at the covert side, for a skirting 

 horseman has made 7nany a bad fox. The best-laid 

 plans of foxes, as well as those of mice and men, 

 gang aft agley, and we may be sure that this 'cutest 

 of wild beasts lays out his plan of campaign as 

 soon as he is aroused from his noonday siesta by 

 the note of a hound. 



We who have noticed his proceedings can well 

 imagine what poor Reynard's thought must be when 

 that happens. Finder, from the thickest spot in the 



