120 FOXES AT HOME. 



'' If you dare to touch me," manfully held his 

 own, and his feet seemed hardly to touch the 

 ground. As he neared the refuge the excite- 

 ment was great, and we held our breath. But 

 there's many a sHp, &c. When within three or 

 four feet of the covert side, the fox made a 

 desperate bound and landed some twelve or 

 fifteen feet in on the top of the gorse, into which 

 he instantly disappeared with a whisk of his brush, 

 whilst the pack went head over heels on top of 

 each other into the thick outside edge, and a 

 minute or two was lost before they got on the 

 line again. Meanwhile in an open space, about 

 a hundred yards up the hill side, our friend 

 appeared, and, pausing for an instant, looked 

 back on the confusion below. I am sure if he 

 could have spoken he would have said " Sold 

 again ! " no doubt he thought it, and then, 

 turning, he quickly disappeared into the scrub 

 which crowned the top of the hill. We never 

 caught sight of that fox again, but ran him to 

 ground with a screaming scent some twenty 

 minutes later in a cave near the once celebrated 

 covert, Nannie Moran's Rock. 



But there were real straight-necked foxes in 

 the old Ormond country in those days, grey- 



