30 ANECDOTES OF FOXES 



dram, she told us aboot the fox she saw coming out 

 of the cairn of stones one day on yon hills in Carrour 

 Forest. " When we was lying there," she says, " the 

 fox went down to Loch Ericht, and when she got to 

 the water she hided in the heather a wee little, and soon 

 pushed out something on the water, which we saw with 

 the glass was moss. The wind took it out on the loch 

 and blew it past some ducks on the water." Well, well, 

 Mr. Corballis, believe me, for it's verra difficult to 

 believe,' and then he went on to explain how some wild 

 ducks were exactly in the middle of the lake, and there 

 being no weeds anywhere near the ducks to hide himself 

 in, our cunning friend crawled down wind through the 

 heather to the edge of the water, unseen by the ducks, 

 where he was seen to tear up some heather and moss 

 and push it out on to the water. Having watched it 

 with apparent satisfaction for some ten minutes or so, 

 floating down towards the ducks and past them with- 

 out arousing their suspicion, he began to get up 

 another and larger bunch of moss, which he allowed 

 to float in the same direction, but this time he swam 

 behind the moss, taking care to show only his eyes and, 

 nose above water. Just as the moss was passing through 

 the ducks, to the amazement of the party, who had their 

 glasses fixed on his manoeuvres, he made a sudden dive 

 and pulled down a duck and swam back under water to 

 the place where he entered, and carried the duck into 

 the cairn, where his wife and family were no doubt 

 waiting to enjoy the fruits of his labours with him. 



Whilst waiting on a similar occasion in another 

 forest, Donald related ' that a fox was observed 

 swimming about in a lake, alternately diving and re- 

 appearing with a bit of moss in its mouth, the latter 



