MOUNTAIN FOXES 273 



a man's, and its hearing quicker, it is rarely that 

 even dwellers near its haunts get a peep at him. If 

 surprised he is never disconcerted, but trots off with 

 the most unconcerned air conceivable. One day, 

 walking by a fence which skirted a fir plantation 

 and suddenly rounding a curve, I observed a fox 

 coming towards me, when we mutually stopped 

 to gaze at each other. On the part of the fox the 

 hesitation did not last long. In a moment he again 

 came leisurely on. When a few paces in front, 

 however, he took the fence at a bound, kept close 

 beneath its further side for some distance, and then, 

 slightly exerting himself, was soon out of sight. 



To show the stamina of mountain foxes, of the 

 hounds which are bred to hunt them, and of the 

 yeomen hunters who follow on foot, one remarkable 

 run may be cited by way of illustration. This 

 lasted upwards of nine hours, and the distance 

 covered must have been considerably over a hundred 

 miles. The chase began about noon, and at six in 

 the evening, when Reynard was believed to be 

 exhausted, he again made for the hills, where both 

 fox and hounds were lost to the hunters. At nine 

 the hounds were heard returning by the way they had 

 gone, and were still in full cry. By this time half 

 the pack had fallen off, and the echoes that rang 

 among the mountains in the moonlit night, as the 

 hounds passed and repassed through the gorges, 



