178 THE FOX 



series of sketches, the late George Rooper deals with 

 the life of a fox, and both by the accurate details he 

 gives of a fox's life and the charming style in which 

 it is narrated, makes us regret the death of one 

 who had taken the highest place as a writer of the 

 sportsman-naturalist type. Most people who have 

 written of the fox have thought of him only as the 

 hunted and not as one of the most resourceful of 

 hunting animals. 



The fox is sometimes written of as though he 

 possessed a cunning and cleverness beyond the range 

 of any animal. It is probably his physiognomy 

 which has gained him an even greater credit than 

 he has deserved. The artists who have painted him 

 have forgotten the beast of prey and have read into 

 their ideas the character of the hero of the Epic ot 

 Reynard ; so that foxes are seldom drawn as they 

 really are, but as it is supposed they are. The foxes 

 of artists, however anatomically accurate, have for the 

 most part an expression of human intelligence, not 

 the look of the wild, shy, savage, little beasts of prey 

 they are. 



In this book I have tried to keep to the plain 

 truth, yet if it had not been for the fabulist and the 

 foxhunter the creature would probably never have 

 had a book to himself. 



