A TERRIER TALK 8i 



twenty-four hours, and Mack there was forty-two hours 

 below and very nearly died of suffocation. He went 

 in with a hunted fox at the large earth at Howden 

 Burn, opposite Wild-Cat Gate, and though we waited 

 till after dark hearing the fighting and struggling 

 shifting from one end to the other, the fox would 

 not bolt, so we left them. On Sunday the keeper 

 reported he could occasionally hear some deep 

 growling ; and though some digging was done, the 

 only efTect was to drive them deeper in. Mack is 

 too silent and very savage ; and all Monda}^ morning 

 we dug. It was one of those dangerous earths in 

 a stratum of fine dr}^ yellow sand, where sides and 

 roof are apt to tumble in and block up the whole 

 passage. About one o'clock we located a faint 

 thumping and drove a shaft down to it, and came 

 right upon the fox. He was only recently dead, 

 not stiff, and still quite warm, and deeply bitten 

 all round the neck. The terrier was lying facing 

 him, completely exhausted and badly punished. He 

 got dreadfully cold when taken out, and shivered 

 so that he could not lap the warm milk we had 

 brought, and we had to feed him. After this, and 

 a shake, and a roll, he so far recovered as to walk 

 home. I remember the fox, a fine old dog, weighed 

 19J lbs., and the terrier only 17 lbs." 



" I suppose they are nearly always * in grips ' when 

 3^ou get at them ? " 



" Not always. For sometimes the fox gets so far 

 back, or into some side tunnel, where the terrier can't 

 get at him, that he is apt to come away if he thinks he 

 is being left alone." 



*' What is the best grip when the jaws are locked ? " 



F 



