VI PREFACE. 



exceptional opportunities of observing foxes in 

 their native haunts from year to year — oppor- 

 tunities denied to many — of which I gladly took 

 every advantage. One has been able in the 

 early summer to sit for hours and watch the 

 cubs at play, with nothing to disturb the solitude 

 save, perhaps, the occasional harsh screech of a 

 passing jay, or the hoarse croak of a carrion 

 crow in the distant pine woods, making it 

 difficult to realise that one was within a mile 

 or so of what, I regret to say, may almost now 

 be considered a suburb of London. 



As one lies in bed at night one frequently 

 hears the foxes barking far out on the heath — 

 a weird sound, which reminds us of how lonely 

 and lovely this country must have been some 

 150 years, or less, ago, in the exciting days of 

 Dick Turpin, mail coaches, and the highwaymen 

 of Bagshot Heath. All this is changing rapidly 

 — alas ! too rapidly — and soon I fear the bark of 

 the fox will here be heard no more, and the 

 bricks of the builder will have taken the place 

 of the pine trees and the heather ! 



J. S. T. 



