HO IV TO PRESERVE FOXES 65 



well-preserved country is seldom without a tenant. 

 Just as the trout is never wanting to the suitable 

 hover or the tiger to the jungle, so a fox is always 

 ready to take the place of one killed. 



I know a particular corner of a wood not far from the 

 boundary fence, where for several seasons an old dog 

 fox used to make his lair by day. The place was 

 secluded, and yet the air reached it through a gap in 

 the trees. From one point the fox was visible to a man 

 on horseback who knew where to look for him. One 

 day — it may be that he was getting old, and his senses 

 were not so keen as in the past — the fox was dropped 

 on, though he dodged the pack for a few yards. 

 The following autumn when riding past the wood I 

 was startled for a moment to see what looked like 

 the old dog fox curled up asleep in his usual place. 

 Then I remembered how all beasts, birds, and fishes 

 of prey have their haunts, and how a favourite spot is 

 almost invariably filled up. 



Thus all we have to do is to keep suitable places 

 undisturbed, and the foxes will make their homes 

 there. Since we desire not only to have foxes, but 

 good ones, the less we interfere with them the better. 

 We can indeed increase the number of foxes in our 

 coverts by artificial means, but wild foxes cannot be 

 manufactured. The degeneracy of a fox begins when 



F 



