BUFFON ON FOXES 59 



snares in which they take thrushes and woodcocks. He 

 is stirring with the earliest dawn, and often visits the 

 traps several times during the day. 



" He examines the snares and the lime twigs, and 

 regularly makes off with the birds that have been taken 

 in them ; these he conceals in different situations, at the 

 road side, in a furrow or rut, among the grass, or at the 

 root of a tree. 



" He often leaves them there for days, but still 

 knows well where to find them when wanted. He 

 chases the leverets on the common, not unfrequently 

 takes the hare upon her form, and seldom fails of sur- 

 prising such as may have been wounded : he digs out 

 the rabbit in the warren, discovers the nest of the 

 partridge and of the quail, secures the mother upon her 

 eggs, and, in short, destroys a vast quantity of game.'* 



According to Buffon, the fox levies insatiate contri- 

 butions on the henroost and on the game preserves ; 

 and, if his opinions were correct, would very soon 

 devastate an extensive country ; but practical experi- 

 ence proves that such is not the case. The havoc 

 described as being committed among the nets and 

 snares of bird-catchers must be imaginary ; because, 

 having laid his devices, where is the bird-catcher who is 

 not, as the fox is represented to be, " stirring with the 

 earliest dawn," and watching his snares? The fox may 

 occasionally indulge his appetite with a leveret or a hare 

 that may have been wounded ; but the most scrupulous 

 game preserver would scarcely begrudge him the latter 

 delicacy, knowing that the hare would otherwise perish 

 and rot. He may perhaps surprise a hen pheasant on 

 her nest if not amply provided with food, such as rabbits 

 and rooks, with which it is the duty of every keeper to 

 supply him during the breeding season of the birds ^ 

 which is the period when the vixens have to procure 

 food for their cubs, and by the time the latter have 

 attained any size the pheasants have taken to the trees 

 as a roosting place where they are tolerably secure. 



I have alreadv observed that I am led to believe 



