26 FOXES AT HOME. 



right in a fox's path, in some bracken, and had 

 no time to get out of his way, so lay down and 

 kept quite still, wondering how near he would 

 come before he found me out. He almost trod 

 on me as he went past, and I could easily have 

 taken the rabbit he was carrying out of his 

 mouth had I so wished. On another occasion 

 I was standing behind a tree when a full-grown 

 cub trotted up and buried a rabbit just at the 

 other side of it, first scraping a small hole and 

 then poking the rabbit into it with his little nose, 

 finally covering it carefully with earth and moss. 

 Immediately he had finished doing this to his 

 satisfaction he evidently winded me, as he stared 

 hard at the tree for a second or two and then 

 hastily unearthing the rabbit bolted with it out 

 of sight. 



When a hungry fox, especially a vixen, gets 

 into a hen roost or farmyard, she will frequently 

 kill every fowl she can get hold of before being 

 disturbed, removing as many as possible and 

 burying them at a safe distance where she can 

 return at her leisure to carry them away. 



Many people aver that a fox will on occasion, 

 say, for instance, if caught flagrante delicto in 

 a fowl-house, sham being dead in order to 



