104 WOODLAND CREATURES 



pleasure, for sport, and that is why he does so 

 much harm among poultry ; for he is not content 

 to slay one hen to stay the pangs of hunger, but 

 will kill all he can. 



Among game the fox does more harm in the 

 late spring than at any other time of year, newly 

 hatched pheasant and partridge chicks falling 

 easy victims. He also takes a good many sitting 

 birds, though a surprising number elude his keen 

 nose. A sitting pheasant or partridge gives off 

 but little scent. While sitting motionless on her 

 eggs a bird is fairly safe, for her sombre brown 

 and grey plumage harmonizes so well with her 

 surroundings that she is practically invisible, and 

 her tell-tale scent is reduced to a minimum. It 

 is the latter which is the most likely to betray 

 her to a passing fox, for, like all wild animals, the 

 fox depends more on its nose than its eyes. To 

 the wild world the breeze carries a varied collection 

 of scents and odours, so that to birds and beasts 

 it is more laden with news than the most go-ahead 

 of newspapers is to us. So the fox, roaming the 

 country-side on a spring evening, depends on 

 his sensitive black nose to warn him of danger, to 

 find his mate, and, last but not least, to discover 

 his night's meal. But the sitting pheasant or 

 partridge is almost odourless, and she is seldom 

 disturbed until the end of her task is in view. 

 Then the dangerous time arrives, when tiny 

 mysterious cheepings are heard in the eggs, and 

 the proud mother becomes restless. She raises her 

 weight from the eggs, sits lightly, shifts about. 



