THE FOX 8 1 



wind you must look elsewhere. The reason of 

 this is that the wind keeps the gorse con- 

 tinually moving, and it is easy to understand, 

 an animal that is obliged to sleep with one ear 

 open for any coming danger would object to 

 this perpetual rustling above his head. 



Woods and plantations are unlikely places in 

 wet weather on account of the drip from the 

 trees, but in a cold wind they afford the warmest 

 shelter. A dry bed and shelter from the wind 

 are the two things most essential to a fox's 

 comfort. Large woods have generally some 

 places where the trees are not close together, 

 where there are bunches of long grass and thick 

 undergrowth, and it is in these spots that a fox 

 is able to find a kennel to his liking, be the 

 weather windy or wet. Foxes have their own 

 individual tastes, and it is not safe to class the 

 whole tribe by the conduct of one particular 

 specimen. I remember, one cold frosty morning, 

 seeing a fox curled up on the top of a ridge in 

 the middle of a bare grass field that was fully 

 exposed to the wind. According to preconceived 

 ideas he ought to have been lying snugly in the 

 warmest corner of some covert, but there he 



