74 WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



there he lies on a nice bed, soft and dry, completely 

 hidden from view, remaining there until the miller 

 informs his landlord's keeper that a fox is there ; then 

 the huntsman comes round and the sooner he does 

 this the better, or there will not be a duck left on the 

 pond. 



Reynard can hear them nozzling and softly quack- 

 ing at the edge of his hiding-place ; with cat-like steps 

 he creeps closer, looking through the flags. When 

 he finds that he is near enough for a jump, there is a 

 splash, and one low quack and the drake is in his 

 mouth. In pictures you may see him represented 

 with his quarry slung over his back. This is not 

 correct ; he carries what he has caught in front of him, 

 like a retriever. More than once, when in search of 

 wading birds, have I come on the retreats of the fox 

 and the otter very near to each other. For cool im- 

 pudence match him if you can. I have known a dog 

 fox, when the vixen had the care of a family, enter the 

 yard of the keeper's house, take one of his game hens 

 from under his living-room windows, march off with 

 it across the road and to his home, give it to his 

 family, and then come back for another. A pointer 

 was in the yard at the time, chained to his kennel. 

 Driven off at his second visit, he coolly re-crossed the 

 road to the turf, squatted on his haunches there, and 



