132 THE FOX 



whose desire it is to fly at his enemy wherever 

 and whenever he can get the chance. Even hounds 

 do not always respect the chained fox, for I know 

 of one instance where a single hound, getting wind 

 of a tame fox, jumped over a fence and murdered 

 it then and there, to the great annoyance of its 

 owner. But still I think it may be taken as a 

 general rule that hounds will not interfere with a 

 fox in captivity. 



The fox, as we have already noted, may be partly 

 tamed ; it may even be moved by some affection for 

 its owner, but it is very seldom if ever domesticated. 

 Among all the instances of tame foxes which I have 

 heard of, there are only two in which the fox seems 

 to have been actually employed usefully. Some years 

 ago a rat-catcher in Gloucestershire used a fox in his 

 business ; the fox was set to watch the holes when 

 the ferrets were put in, and seldom missed a rat that 

 bolted. This fox, the man declared, killed more rats 

 than all his dogs put together. But the story does 

 not tell how the fox was trained to respect the ferrets. 

 It is well known that foxes are most determined foes 

 of stoats and weasels, and there are several instances 

 of foxes attacking ferrets. But that the fox is a 

 very clever ratter is well known. In the days when 

 wild-fowl were captured in a decoy, the well-known 



