54 THE FOX 



they are wise is another matter. Foxes certainly find 

 out the least disturbed places and the safest refuges. 



The fox knows well when he is safe, and he 

 knows too whether the scent is good or bad. It is 

 also clear that he comprehends that he is being pur- 

 sued by scent, for he has certain definite ideas of 

 covering his trail. I have very little doubt that foxes 

 recognise in some way the advantage of a flock of 

 sheep, or herd of cattle, in destroying scent. Foxes 

 often make use of those stretches of bad scenting- 

 ground which exist in almost every hunting country. 

 But this is easy to understand : animals never forget. 

 The fox has found once or twice — but once is pro- 

 bably enough — that to cross that particular tract of 

 country relieves him of the pressure of the chase, 

 therefore he makes for the place again. Foxes, I 

 think, do know that plough is bad for scent and grass 

 is good. They will nearly always use roads if they 

 have escaped that way before. 



The fox certainly adopts the stratagem which is 

 familiar in the case of the stag, and I suspect is com- 

 mon to all hunted animals, of rousing another to take 

 his place before hounds. I know of one notable in- 

 stance of this which was told me by a keeper — a 

 shrewd observer. In his beat he had a well-known 

 fox-covert in which was an old ivy-clad tree, which he 



