146 THE ROLL OF THE SEASONS 



with muscle beneath his long red fur, and with a 

 goodly brush behind him, he seemed to sail rather 

 than run as he went off in the direction of his vixen's 

 earth nearly half a mile away. We do not doubt that 

 the fine fellow helped his partner to stock her larder in 

 the days of hard hunting that followed the appearance 

 of her family. But as soon as she got strong her 

 jealousy and independence asserted themselves, and 

 the dog's visits to his progeny became considerably 

 rarer. 



Our fluffy little friends were less than three weeks 

 old when the earth before the den began to be full of 

 tiny claw marks, that told plainly of their first tottering 

 gambols in the open air, probably when a warm sun 

 drew them forth from their cellar-like quarters. Soon 

 after, they began to be left alone all day, their mother 

 allowing herself the luxury of sleeping above ground 

 in a neighbouring bush. Our spaniel knew the place 

 of her siesta well, from the day when he went too near 

 and got a fright from her silent, snarling teeth that 

 made him cry out as though he had been threatened 

 with the stroke of a whip. 



The marvellous thing to be noticed in the field of 

 our foxes is the indifference \vith which the rabbits 

 regard their powerful enemies. Many a bunny has 

 gone to feed the insatiate vixen and her family. At 

 times, seemingly by mere whim on her part, when she 

 is on the hunt for them, the rabbits scamper off 

 affrightedly enough, but far more often they feed and 

 play up to within a few feet of the earth, and take 

 merely the interest of inquisitive neighbours as she 

 passes along between them and the hedge, their 

 refuge, in search of more fancied morsels. Rabbit is 



