

HOW HE FEEDS AT THE ENEMY 's EXPENSE. 53 



ried off by them from our property. They were, moreover, 

 not unfrequently seen to capture young wild ducks in the 

 same little river daily resorted to by our geese and ducks, 

 which they never harmed in any way." 



" A bitch-fox," Ekstrom tells us again, " had littered in a 

 Hage, nearly midway between two villages, about a mile 

 apart. When the cubs began to require food, the old fox 

 never touched any animal belonging to the proprietors of 

 the Hage in which they had pitched their tent, but they 

 plundered the other village, not only of all the poultry, but 

 when these failed, of sucking pigs and lambs also. Now, 

 although Michel had certainly not sufficiently studied the 

 map of the country as to know on whose ground he had 

 taken up his abode, it is nevertheless very remarkable that he 

 would at all times be satisfied with lean lamb, &c., if provided 

 at the cost of the enemy ; although fat geese and other 

 delicacies, had he so willed it, were always readily obtainable 

 in the village of his friends." 



" In another instance, where two large estates were 

 managed by the same Inspector, who was also a sports- 

 man," Ekstrom goes on to say, " a fox had littered in a 

 sand-hill. This gentleman, during his daily rounds, had 

 not unfrequently observed her ; but for a while he would 

 not have her disturbed, as well because she never in any 

 manner molested the numerous turkeys, geese, &c., that daily 

 fed in the vicinity of her abode, as that her cubs were as yet 

 too small to be of any use. At last, however, the time arrived 

 that Michel's skin should be made to pay for his quarters, 

 and a Chasse was in consequence got up ; but it proved a 

 failure, and she went off entirely unscathed. 



" The next day some people were set to work to dig out 



