102 THE FOX 



down in a neighbouring field to eat his booty, and 

 almost refused to leave it when the keeper came up 

 to him. 



Foxes in a well-hunted but carefully preserved 

 country seem to care less for man than in other 

 places. But, as we have repeatedly noted, the fox is 

 as adaptable mentally as he is physically liable to 

 variation. It is curious that, of all our familiar 

 mammals, the fox and the otter, of which the first 

 varies in every possible way, and the second scarcely 

 at all, are among the most widely distributed animals 

 of prey. 



The fox adapts himself not only to his surroundings, 

 but also to our methods of hunting him. Foxhunting, 

 as we have it now, is comparatively a modern sport, 

 but hunting the fox with the aid of dogs is very 

 ancient, for the fox's depredations have always made 

 it necessary to keep his numbers down. The story 

 of the fox with many wiles, and the cat with but one, 

 is a very ancient fable, and bears witness to the 

 antiquity of the chase of the fox. It also shows us 

 that foxes in those days ran rings, since the fox was 

 killed under the tree where the cat had at first taken 

 refuge. 



The fox, it is clear, had then as now a reputation 

 for puzzling the hounds by many a trick ; yet I have 



