FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



come across foxes minus a foot. Many a fox 

 gets clear of a trap at the cost of one of his pedal 

 extremities, but despite his loss, appears to fare 

 as well as ever. If this happens in a hunting 

 country however, he will not as a rule last long 

 for hounds soon account for a " three legger." 

 Once a fox has been in a trap, it is a clever man 

 who will get him in another. An adult fox is not 

 easy to trap at any time and his motto is ' ' once 

 bit, twice shy." 



True hill-foxes generally show a good deal of 

 grey about their fur, but there are not so many 

 of these "old timers " as there used to be. The 

 Scotch mountains probably harbour more of them 

 than any other district, because, being far from 

 any regular hunting country, the foxes are uncon- 

 taminated with foreign blood. In the Lake 

 District a few fairly grey foxes are killed each 

 season, but the old sort — known as ' ' greyhound " 

 foxes — are now practically a thing of the past. 



The hill-fox is a true mountaineer. He likes 

 to make his kennel far up amongst the high tops, 

 two thousand feet or more above sea level. From 

 there he makes long foraging expeditions to the 

 low ground, returning to his mountain fastness 

 before daybreak. Instead of lying in a covert, 

 a hedgerow, or the open fields, like his south- 

 country cousin, he chooses some heather-covered 

 ledge on a towering crag, with a wide, panoramic 

 view of the country spread out below him. Under 

 stress of weather, or when danger threatens, he 

 will get to ground amongst the labyrinths of sub- 

 terranean passages, which ramificate in all 

 directions below the piled-up rocks and boulders. 



There is no artificiality about his existence. 

 He lives a wild, free life on the open hills, and all 



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