356 Practical Game Preserving. 



round the sides of the inclosure instead of working perhaps 

 all over the field to ascertain the direction in which the 

 object of his harrying had gone. 



Occasionally foxes will dig out rabbits, more especially 

 in localities where the depth of the soil is very small and 

 the burrows are near the surface. When this is the case, 

 the fox, carefully scenting about, discovers the whereabouts 

 of the rabbits and digs right down upon them. Occasionally 

 it is able to attain its object, but the operation is distasteful 

 to the fox, and is but rarely entered upon. It has a favourite 

 way, however, of frequenting such large burrows as may 

 be excavated in hedgerows, and the manner it sets about 

 its work is worthy of note. In the morning, when the 

 rabbits are all out feeding, perhaps at some distance from 

 their shelter, the fox manoeuvres to reach the hedge upon 

 the opposite side to that upon which the coneys, at least 

 the greater number of them, are feeding. This attained 

 satisfactorily, the varmint gradually and gently edges him- 

 self or half crawls on to the top of the bank, where he lies 

 and watches the unsuspecting rabbits ; and we know of an 

 instance where the fox frolicked about on his coign of 

 vantage for some time before the unlucky bunnies' attention 

 was attracted, and as they endeavoured to scuttle into 

 their holes, a lightning jump and one was secured, the 

 usual twist of the neck, and with one bound our fox was 

 back over the hedge and away. This was observed to occur 

 several mornings running, at about the same time in the 

 same field, but at different burrows, round the hedgerows. 

 The fox subsequently trotted across the path of the man 

 who observed these "goings on," and who remarked that 



