THE BRITISH RED FOX 



gets no general idea of the ground, so within the 

 area of his own particular beat he is perfectly 

 at home, because he has gradually come to know 

 the lay of the land in detail. A cursory glance 

 is sufficient to enable us to find our way from one 

 covert to another, or to cross half a dozen fields ; 

 not so with the fox however. His horizon is 

 bounded by a rise in the ground, a hedge, or some 

 other comparatively small obstruction, and it is 

 only by remembering in detail the objects which 

 he passes, such as ditches, runs through fences, 

 drains, sheep tracks, etc., that he is able to cross 

 the country at speed, with some particular point 

 in his mind, when hounds are on his line. Should 

 he therefore be driven beyond the confines of his 

 beat, his small stature prevents him seeing open 

 earths, drains, etc., as we should see them, from a 

 distance ; and unless he happens to run right on 

 top of some refuge likely to afford him shelter, he 

 trusts entirely to his legs to carry him out of 

 danger. 



Since early days, fabulists and poets have 

 endowed the fox with extraordinary wisdom and 

 cunning. Granted that he has shown marked 

 ability in avoiding extermination, it should be 

 remembered that in both this and other countries a 

 considerable measure of protection is afforded him 

 in certain districts. In England he owes his 

 freedom from, extermination to hunting, and this 

 applies also to certain districts in America. 

 Again, those foxes which are valued for their 

 furs dwell in uninhabited regions, where trappers 

 and hunters are comparatively few and far be- 

 tween, and cannot do more than take a per- 

 centage of the foxes which roam through the 

 forests and barrens. Some foxes no doubt fall 

 victims occasionally to wolves, cougars and the 

 like, but I imagine their numbers must be small. 



33 



