1 8 Game and Foxes. 



had attracted other foxes, which took it before the 

 vixen arrived. As a result, she hunted the vicinity 

 more closely than ever with a hope of finding it, 

 and discovered the sitting birds. A better plan 

 would have been to place the rabbit so as to 

 intercept the vixen before she reached the fence 

 in question, but some considerable distance from it 

 towards her earth. The dead rabbits, if continually 

 laid in one place, are also certain to entice vermin 

 to the spot, and if the nests are near it will be to 

 their danger. 



Foxes are so much in the habit of running and 

 searching fences each night, especially when they 

 learn that sitting birds are to be had, that they 

 omit to range in the open ; for this reason a nest 

 in a tuft of grass, &c., in the centre of a large field is 

 generally in the safest spot. Such nests invari- 

 ably hatch, and the broods run, if not otherwise 

 disturbed. Hungarian and other foreign partridges 

 are accustomed to nesting on the open plains, 

 taking advantage of any means of concealment 

 there happens to be, and several seasons may 

 elapse before they consent to nest in fences when 

 introduced into this country. In nearly every case 

 they lay in the open, in all sorts of unexpected 

 places, and their nests are missed by the foxes ; 

 therefore, the release of a few pairs on an estate 



