30 THE FOX 



rabbits for the vixen and cubs, and practically keeps 

 her so well supplied that she has no occasion to 

 hunt 



Foxes learn a country, not as we know it, in a 

 general way, but in the most minute and detailed 

 manner. The places where is the best hunting are 

 the points, and between these are many things 

 useful for a fox to know. For instance : how a 

 field can be crossed without his being seen, where 

 a small lithe body can slip swiftly and easily through 

 a hedge, where a drain gives a temporary hiding- 

 place from sudden perils. 



The range is varied by the fact that at different 

 seasons of the year the fox finds his prey in different 

 places. In the summer the hedgerows and ditches 

 are excellent hunting-grounds, and nothing comes 

 amiss to the fox. He catches a beetle, digs out 

 a nest of field mice, snaps up a foolish young bird, 

 stalks the rats in the hedgerow and the hares in the 

 open field. In autumn and winter the fox gleans 

 after the shooters and picks up the wounded birds 

 and beasts. For he is, though a hard-working 

 animal, ever ready to avail himself of anything that 

 may save trouble. Where foxes are preserved they 

 naturally haunt the shooters' footsteps, but it is 

 not unlikely that shooting draws them to a covert. 



