FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



With reference to the fox's mind, the question 

 arises, What are the feelings of a hunted fox? 

 We can easily imagine our own feelings, if pursued 

 by a pack of large and noisy enemies, but though 

 our mind and that of a wild animal act on a 

 more or less similar basis, the quality of the 

 mind-matter varies immensely. It is, I think, 

 unreasonable to suppose that the mind of the fox 

 is influenced in the same way as the mind of a 

 human being. We express our thoughts and 

 ideas in words, but the fox cannot do this ; and 

 without words, thought cannot advance very far. 

 There is no looking forward in the fox's case, his 

 thoughts are concrete, and his memory is a mass 

 of facts. There is more pain to a human being in 

 anticipating the end than in the end itself. The 

 fox's mind is incapable of realising a probability, 

 and therefore he can have no anticipation of death, 

 until perhaps at the very last moment when his 

 foes are actually upon him. Even then the end 

 is swift, and is the payment the fox is required to 

 make for the protection of himself and his kind. 

 A fox dies fighting, and anyone who has ex- 

 perienced the excitement of the ring or the 

 battlefield knows that in the heat of the moment 

 pain is for the time being obliterated. 



In another chapter I have mentioned the fact 

 that certain foxes in the fell country do not 

 assimilate in colour with their surroundings. In 

 the case of a hunted fox, the further he runs and 

 the dirtier he becomes, the less easy is he to see. 

 A beaten fox shows his condition by his arched 

 back, trailing brush, and lolling tongue, and to an 

 experienced observer there is no doubt of his 

 plight. Let such a fox however see you before 

 you see him, and he is likely to straighten up and 

 go away for a certain distance as if quite fresh. 



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