HUNTING THE FOX 225 



it was necessary that hounds should press upon their 

 fox at some period of the run. Thus, while the 

 huntsman's mind is fixed upon shortening the length 

 of the chase, the fox's wiles are concentrated on pro- 

 longing it. Indeed it seems probable that in hunt- 

 ing runs of over forty minutes (perhaps we might say 

 half an hour) the foxes more often than not beat the 

 hounds. So that when the fox spends a great deal of 

 intelligence and some strength in gaining time he is 

 quite right, and this, and the desire to economise his 

 powers, are probably the two leading methods of the 

 hunted fox. By them we may interpret most of his 

 devices and actions in the course of a run. It is to 

 gain time that he runs the hedgerows, takes a turn 

 round a covert, or lies down in a ditch. 



Cubs often escape just because they are timid and 

 distrustful of their capacity ; old foxes, because they 

 know exactly what their powers are. The majority 

 of the foxes we kill are probably young ones in the 

 spring of their vigour, who trust too much in their 

 strength and swiftness. 



As an illustration of this we may note the fate 

 of a litter which were brought as cubs from a dis- 

 tant covert to a small one. They were ear-marked — 

 there were five in all. In the cub-hunting season 

 they were dispersed : one was killed as a cub in the 



Q 



