FOX. 427 



in which I was concealed ; he looked with great care over the 

 turf wall into the field, and seemed to long to get hold of some 

 hares that were feeding in it, but apparently knew that he had 

 no chance of catching one by dint of running ; after considering 

 a short time he seemed to have formed his plans, and having 

 ■examined the different gaps in the wall by which the hares 

 might be supposed to go in and out, he fixed upon the one that 

 seemed the most frequented, and laid himself down close to it in 

 an attitude like a cat watching a mouse. Cunning as he was, 

 he was too intent on his own hunting to be aware that I was 

 within twenty yards of him with a loaded rifle, and able to watch 

 every movement that he made. I was much amazed to see the 

 fellow so completely outwitted, and kept my rifle ready to shoot 

 him if he found me out and attempted to escape. In the mean- 

 time I watched all his plans. He first with great silence and 

 care scraped a small hollow in the ground, throwing up the 

 sand as a kind of screen between his hiding-place and the hares' 

 mews ; every now and then, however, he stopped to listen, and 

 sometimes to take a most cautious look into the field ; when he 

 had done this he laid himself down in a convenient position for 

 springing upon his prey, and remained perfectly motionless with 

 the exception of an occasional reconnoitre of the feeding hares. 

 When the sun began to rise, they came one by one from the 

 field to the cover of the plantation ; three had already come in 

 without passing by his ambush; one of them came within 

 twenty yards of him, but he made no movement beyond crouch- 

 ing still more closely to the ground. Presently two came 

 directly towards him ; though he did not venture to look up, I 

 saw by an involuntary motion of his ears that those quick 

 organs had already warned him of their approach : the two 

 hares came through the gap together, and the fox, springing 

 with the quickness of lightning, caught one and killed her 

 immediately ; he then lifted up his booty and was carrying it 

 off like a retriever, when my rifle-ball stopped his course by 

 passing through his back-bone, and I went up and despatched 

 him. 



Numberless instances are on record showing the remark- 

 able cunning of foxes in procuring bait from traps without 

 allowing themselves to be caught. These cases are so 

 numerous, and all display so much the same quality of 

 intelligence, that it is impossible to doubt so great a 

 •concurrence of testimony. I shall only give two or three 

 specific cases, to show the kind of intelligence that is in 



