THE FOX. 2 1 



he was only for the moment knocked a httle 

 out of time. 



Foxes, when unmolested, will frequently 

 kennel quite close to human habitations, and 

 where they can see persons passing to and 

 fro all day. The ivy on the top of an old 

 garden wall is a favourite place. They even 

 take up their quarters in covert close to the 

 walls of kennels, where hounds are removed 

 from them by only a few yards, and where 

 the constant baying does not seem to disturb 

 them in the least. In fact, when they know 

 that hounds or dogs cannot get at them, 

 they treat them with the utmost contempt, 

 and I have over and over again seen their 

 tracks in the snow pass within a few feet of 

 where a most savage dog was tied, and where 

 the latter had evidently been straining hard 

 at the end of his chain to get free, whilst 

 Reynard trotted unconcernedly by. Some 

 years ago I remember Mr. Garth's hounds 

 finding a mangy fox in the pleasure grounds 

 at Heckfield Place, Swallowfield, and after 

 running him hard for some minutes he just 

 managed to escape their jaws by climbing 

 over the high wire fence which surrounds the 



