168 THE HUNTED FOX AND HIS WILES 



he had already once crossed about four miles higher 

 up. 



If our fisherman's view of the case was correct, I 

 think the cunning displayed more than equals any 

 that I have ever heard of being displayed by lepus 

 timidus, though I have quoted high opinions to the 

 effect that it requires much science to bring a good 

 hare to hand. Sir Reginald Graham tells us that the 

 late Lord Suffolk once asked Mr. George Lane Fox, 

 M.F.H., his opinion of hare-hunting. " I have always," 

 he replied, " understood it to be a most scientific amuse- 

 ment." Not for nothing, then, has our sport been 

 termed " the noble science." 



I have been told, apropos of the above story, that 

 bridges seem to have a sort of fascination for the 

 hunted fox, and two instances have been related to 

 me of foxes having scrambled down to the buttress 

 of a bridge and lain curled up on a projecting part of 

 it. There can be little doubt but that foxes know 

 well how quickly their foot-scent evaporates from 

 stones or masonry. 



The run of February 11, 1908, enjoyed by the 

 Waterford hounds was one of the very best of a 

 season brimful of most excellent sport from the first, 

 and had a curious conclusion. It lasted for two hours 

 and forty-five minutes, and at no time till the very 

 end did the pace become "dead slow," while parts 

 of it were decidedly fast, and at one time hounds 

 distinctly had the best of the game, and were un- 

 attended. Of course, it seems most unlikely that 

 the same fox was in front all the time ; but that they 

 did not change near the end of the run has since 



