258 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



plunges from on wing into the soft snow, where it remains 

 concealed for a day or two. The fox occasionally surprises 

 these birds, and as he is usually stimulated at this inclement 

 season, by the gnawings of hunger, he is compelled to seek 

 for food by day as well as by night ; his fresh track may be 

 seen in the fields, along the fences, and on the skirts of the 

 farm-yard, as well as in the deep forest. Nothing is easier 

 than to track the fox under these favorable circumstances, 

 and the trail having been discovered, it is followed up until 

 Reynard is started. 



Now the chase begins ; the half-hound yells out, in tones 

 far removed from the mellow notes of the thorough-bred dog, 

 but equally inspiriting, perhaps, through the clear frosty air, 

 as the solitary hunter eagerly follows, as fast as his limited 

 powers of locomotion will admit. At intervals of three or 

 four minutes, the sharp cry of the dog resounds, the fox has no 

 time to double and shuffle, the dog is at his heels almost, and 

 speed, speed, is his only hope of life. Now the shrill baying 

 of the hound becomes irregular ; we may fancy he is at the 

 throat of his victim; the hunter is far in the rear, toiling 

 along the track which marks the course so well contested, 

 but occasionally the voice of his dog, softened by the distance, 

 is borne on the wind to his ear. 



For a mile or two the fox keeps ahead of his pursuer ; but 

 the latter has the longest legs, and the snow impedes him less 

 than it does poor Reynard. Every bound and plunge into 

 the snow diminishes the distance between the fox and his 

 relentless foe. Onward they rush, through field, fence, brush- 

 wood, and open forest, the snow flying from bush and briar 

 as they dart through the copse, or speed across the newly 

 cleared field. 



But this desperate race cannot last longer ; the fox must 

 gain his burrow, or some cavernous rock, or he dies. Alas ! 

 he has been lured too far away from his customary haunts, 

 and from his secure retreat, in search of prey ; he is unable 



