CHAPTER VIII 



THE FOX AS OUTLAW 



In parts of England only is the fox a welcome guest. 

 Everywhere else in the world, when he comes in 

 contact with man, he is an outlaw. Yet he survives 

 and holds his own in spite of gun, trap, and poison, 

 and although his cubs are dug out and massacred 

 whenever their hiding-place is discovered. Indeed 

 it is only when he is carefully preserved that we hear 

 of his degeneration. In the countries where he is 

 outlawed he is larger, sleeker, more powerful, more 

 cunning, and possessed of a marvellous power of 

 endurance. The largest, heaviest foxes come from 

 Scotland, Wales, and the fell country of Cumberland 

 and Westmorland, where there is no truce or 

 armistice in the warfare against their kind. 



It is true that in some places on the European 

 Continent the fox was for a time valued as a trophy 

 in the game-bag, and received a certain amount of 

 protection. I have heard that in Denmark fox-drives 



