ii2 Photographing a Wild Fox 



The whole section, therefore, offers ideal homes for 

 the foxes. 



The same conditions, too, which have naturally 

 protected the foxes have had a like influence on the 

 ruffed grouse and other small game which largely 

 furnish the food supply of Reynard; but they, like 

 himself, have learned cunning from long experience, 

 and he often finds the domestic fowl which has ven- 

 tured too far from the protection of the farm-boy 

 and his dog a more easy victim. This fact makes 

 the fox especially obnoxious to the farmer in the 

 thinly populated districts of this region. During the 

 hunting season many are shot, but their numbers are 

 nevertheless gradually increasing. 



It was during the tapping of the sugar bush that 

 some boys noticed numerous fox tracks in the snow. 

 They also caught an occasional glimpse of a long, slim 

 body gliding as silently as a shadow into the dwarf 

 hemlocks by the swamp, and the watchers of the 

 sugar camp at night were often startled by shrill 

 barking just outside of the circle of light. This re- 

 minded the boys of the gradual disappearance of 

 their father's fowls, and the oft repeated threats 

 against Reynard; and they determined, when the 

 hurry of sugar making was over, to turn their atten- 

 tion to the destruction of their troublesome neighbors. 



