THE HUNTED FOX 105 



foxes are easy to hunt, while everyone knows that 

 turning, twisting, hedgerow-haunting foxes are the 

 hardest to kill. When a huntsman finds an animal 

 of this sort in front of his hounds he has a difficult 

 task to work out, and need expect small credit, for 

 when he has exerted all his knowledge and science 

 his field will exclaim, ' Why does Tom or Charles not 

 give up this brute and find us another ? ' But who 

 will say that the dodging fox has not the better 

 chance of life of the two, and does not show the 

 greater cunning ? If there were none but clever 

 foxes we should give up hunting ; if there were none 

 but simple ones we should soon have no more foxes 

 to hunt. The variability of the fox is an advantage 

 both to the race and to the sport. 



There is often a considerable difference in foxes 

 of the same litter. I knew a litter of four of which 

 two were killed and two were left by the first of 

 November. Both of these lived in the same 

 covert. One was not difficult to recognise as he had 

 more white than usual on his underparts and chest, 

 had a greyish coat and a big white tag to his brush. 

 The other, and as we all believed his litter-brother, 

 was smaller and darker. The dark fox never ran 

 a yard further than he was obliged. He generally 

 dodged for an hour or more about the covert, a wood 



