THE BRITISH ISLES 365 



The reason for this is very obvious. In the rocky glens and 

 valleys of Scotland the fox is at once a foe to grouse and all game, 

 a nuisance to the farmer, and a general pest ; while in England he 

 is an animal to be reverenced and indulged all spring and summer, 

 to be chased with fierce hatred and bated breath all winter. Some 

 of the Scotch deer-forests are crawling with foxes ; and some few 

 years ago I saw foxes almost daily in Rannoch Forest, in Perthshire. 

 Once I almost lost a fine statr owino- to the brutish behaviour of a 

 fox. I had struck my stag "far back," and had he been left alone 

 and quiet, he would have lain down and probably given me a chance 

 of stalking him and administering the coup de grace ; but one hour 

 followed another, and still he plodded wearily on, whilst the stalker 

 and I had difficulty in keeping him in sight. It was getting late in 

 the evening when we discovered the reason : a big old fox was after 

 him. The fox did not attempt any forcing tactics ; and when at last, 

 through our telescopes, we made him out, we could see the poor 

 beast of a stae lie down for a few minutes, wearied and distressed, 

 and the fox sit a i^v^ yards from him, watching him serenely and 

 intently, as much as to say, "All right, my boy, you'll be mine soon." 

 And then the stag would rise and plod heavily on, loathing and 

 fearing the sly devil behind him, that always followed and dogged 

 his footsteps. 



I got that stag in the last gleam of evening ; and I think I would 

 have had a go at the fox too, but I never saw him after I fired the 

 shot that killed the staof. 



Sometimes cubs are caught and transported to the fox-hunting 

 districts of England where they may have become scarce, but it 



