THE MIND OF THE FOX 51 



the side of a steep slope. From the lane beneath 

 every part of the covert can be seen. I knew 

 where a fox lay curled up under a bush, and watched 

 the place : hounds were all round him, but he lay 

 low and never moved; one hound actually sniffed 

 at the bush, but he did not stir; another jumped 

 over him, but he made no sign. Then the hounds 

 were blown out of covert, and he sprang up just too 

 soon : a laggard hound winded him or perhaps caught 

 a view. 



A similar instance of great but insufficient in- 

 telligence was shown by another fox. He generally lay 

 in a small covert of some two or more acres. When 

 he heard the hunt coming he would leave the 

 covert and lie out in a ploughed field, returning as 

 soon as the coast was clear. The keeper told me he 

 had seen him do this several times, and offered to 

 show me the fox, adding the unkeeper-like condition 

 that I was ' not to holler ' as being a ' meanlike thing ' 

 to do. Sure enough from a place of vantage I saw 

 the fox steal out when hounds were still a great way 

 off, and creep into a furrow where he lay lost to my 

 eyes, but where the keeper could still see him. The 

 hounds came, drew the covert blank and were called 

 off. The fox jumped up and was trotting back when 

 the second whipper-in, bringing along the last of the 



