The Springfield Fox 



shaking of the grass, which is the reason why 

 mice are hunted only on calm days. 



And the trick is to locate the mouse and 

 seize him first and see him afterward. Vix 

 soon made a spring, and in the middle of the 

 bunch of dead grass that she grabbed was a 

 field-mouse squeaking his last squeak. 



He was soon gobbled, and the four awkward 

 little foxes tried to do the same as their mother, 

 and when at length the eldest for the first time 

 in his life caught game, he quivered with excite- 

 ment and ground his pearly little milk-teeth 

 into the mouse with a rush of inborn savage- 

 ness that must have surprised even himself. 



Another home lesson was on the red-squir- 

 rel. One of these noisy, vulgar creatures, lived 

 close by and used to waste part of each day 

 scolding the foxes, from some safe perch. The 

 cubs made many vain attempts to catch him as 

 he ran across their glade from one tree to an- 

 other, or spluttered and scolded at them a foot 

 or so out of reach. But old Vixen was up in 

 natural history — she knew squirrel nature and 

 took the case in hand when the proper time 

 came, She hid the children and lay down flat 



204 



