ON ARTIFICIAL FOX-EARTHS 193 



into the lap of one of the watchers, which discon- 

 certed him so horribly that he rushed back to his 

 lair, spitting and snarling. He quickly came forth 

 again, and the fun recommenced, but soon the gloam- 

 ing was changing to the mirk, the clock in the village 

 spire a mile and a half away boomed solemnly the 

 hour of nine. I thought I heard the distant bark of 

 the vixen, and, stepping forward from the bank above 

 the scene of frolic, a stick cracked loudly under my 

 foot. Tarn o' Shanter's burst of applause in Alloa's 

 auld haunted kirk had not a speedier effect in putting 

 an end to the revelry ; all three cubs turned and bolted 

 for earths " like all possessed," and the watchers found 

 difficulty in struggling out of the well-fenced covert, 

 so dark had it become before they reached the hedge. 

 However, some of the party having never before seen 

 cubs at play were more than delighted with the enter- 

 tainment provided by the covert, and all agreed with 

 me that here was an ideal fox-earth. 



Disused drains in the vicinity of old buildings are 

 very frequently converted into breeding earths by the 

 foxes, and I recollect one evening being surprised to 

 see four cubs disporting themselves under some large 

 trees about forty yards from the back of my stables. 

 As I approached they vanished, and I then discovered 

 a hole communicating with an old drain which had 

 once led from the stables to the ditch of a farm 

 road. Beyond this farm road was a triangular planta- 

 tion of larch and fir covering about a quarter of an 

 acre. Here the cubs remained all the summer, re- 

 moving in the autumn to the old covert. Hounds, 

 as usual, found every time they drew it that winter, 



Hounds, Gentlemen, Please. X4 



