102 WOODLAND CREATURES 



is not only the ring where the fox pounced on the 

 hen, but its efforts to get a good grip result in many 

 others. You may thus trace the direction in 

 which the victim was carried off, but if it was 

 a dog-fox unencumbered by family responsibilities 

 that did the deed, he will not have taken her far. 

 You will soon come to the spot where he stopped 

 and ate the hen, or part of her, for a fox seldom 

 disposes of a whole fowl at one meal. However, 

 he invariably takes care of what is left, burying 

 it in some molehill or other loose soil which affords 

 good digging, and returning for it in a day or two. 

 My impression is that a fox prefers his food some- 

 what " high/' and that he will have several such 

 " caches." At any rate I know that he seldom 

 forgets to return and finish the buried treasure, 

 but he is highly suspicious, and if he smells any- 

 thing that suggests human interference he leaves 

 it severely alone. 



If a vixen, with cubs to provide for, takes a 

 fowl, the trail will, to begin with, be much the 

 same, but instead of the hen being eaten, it will 

 become evident it was carried right away, for 

 she has borne it off to the cubs. It is a curious 

 thing that, as a rule, a vixen will not kill near 

 home, but goes some little way off to hunt. Perhaps 

 she does not want to draw attention to her litter, 

 but at any rate it is rare for her to take anything 

 close to the earth. I have known cases of fowls 

 roosting out in trees near a covert where there 

 was a vixen and cubs, yet they were never inter- 

 fered with. Provided fowls are properly shut up 



