FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



it down the slope. The noise of its passage being 

 slight, the fox apparently did not hear it, but 

 when I followed it with a larger piece of rock, he 

 raised his head like a flash and stared straight in 

 my direction. After a steady look, he dropped 

 his head, but I could see through the glass that 

 his eyes were open. I then threw another stone 

 and got to my feet. Instantly the fox sprang 

 up and vanished round a projecting ledge. When 

 I kept still he never saw me, but directly I moved 

 and became silhouetted, his eyes warned him of 

 danger, and two jumps took him out of sight. 



A fox seldom hesitates at a critical moment. 

 He seems to know just what to do on the instant 

 in any emergency. Only once do I remember 

 seeing a fox pause before making up his mind 

 A fell pack ran a fox to ground, and after a time 

 he elected to bolt under pressure from the terriers. 

 Some of the hounds had straggled off to a dis- 

 tance, and when the fox shot out of the earth, 

 to an accompaniment of halloas from the people 

 present, these hounds at once closed in. Sud- 

 denly the fox found his foes on all sides, and for an 

 instant he halted on a jutting point of rock, as if 

 debating what to do. In the end he shook them 

 all off but one, and this hound was waiting at a 

 point where the rocks merged into more open 

 going. When within a few yards of the hound, 

 the fox put on a tremendous spurt, and got safely 

 past ; the hound being apparently too astonished 

 to move, although the fox almost touched it. 



It is impossible to dogmatise concerning the 

 habits of the fox, for he is, like other wild creatures, 

 conspicuous for his variability. We can, by 

 close study however, learn a good deal about him, 

 and one of the best methods of gaining information 

 is by following his tracks in the snow. If the 



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