190 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



a rather large drain. The drain itself is of rude con- 

 struction two stones on edge and a third across at 

 the top. It comes from the cowyard, passing under 

 the outermost part of the garden a considerable dis- 

 tance away from the house. Very early one morning 

 the labourers coming to work saw a fox slip into the 

 mouth of the drain through the long grass of the 

 meadow on which it opened. In the summer, the 

 cattle being all out in the fields, the drain was per- 

 fectly dry, and it was known that now and then the 

 rabbits from the hedge made use of it as a temporary 

 place of concealment. No doubt the presence of a 

 rabbit in it was the cause of the fox entering in the 

 first place. The rabbit must have had a very bad 

 time of it, for, the drain being closed at the other 

 end with an iron grating, no possibility of escape 

 existed. 



From the traces in the grass and on the dry mud at 

 the mouth it appeared as if the fox had ventured 

 there more than once ; and as there were many 

 chickens about, his object in lying here was evident. 

 The great hedge being so near, and the narrow space 

 between full of tall mo wing -grass the edge of the 

 ha-ha wall, too, clothed with stone-crop and grasses 

 growing in the interstices of the loose stones, and 

 further sheltered by a low box hedge it was a place 

 almost made on purpose for Reynard's cunning am- 

 buscade. He is as bold or even bolder than he is 

 cunning. A young dog sent up the drain came back 

 quicker than he went, and refused to venture a 



