86 FOXES AT HOME. 



to the earth, where It was duly Hberated. The 

 hen stood on the earth and looked at her 

 unusual surroundings with evident alarm, but 

 made no attempt to run away, whilst we 

 retired a few^ yards to see what w^ould happen 

 on the arrival of the cubs. Standing leaning 

 against a tree, with the empty ferret-bag behind 

 my back, it was suddenly snatched out of my 

 hand, and looking round I saw the little vixen 

 ("Joan" I called her, "Darby," the dog) 

 dashing away with it in great glee. I had 

 never heard her approach, and she only dropped 

 it when she found it contained nothing better 

 than a feather or two. Trotting back to the 

 earth she and the hen stared at each other 

 in evident surprise for several seconds, the 

 latter seeming to be paralysed with fear. At 

 last the cub rushed up and seized her by the 

 tail, when the hen seemed to find her voice 

 at any rate, and made such use of it that 

 Joan dropped her and bolted, leaving the hen 

 for the moment mistress of the situation. On 

 a little hill just above the earth I noticed 

 Darby, sitting smiling, and w^atching this 

 strange performance with evident interest, but 

 he would not descend to enter the lists with the 



