56 The Course, the Camp, the Chase 



less than three times. His " earth " was amongst rocks, 

 so that he was obliged to come out and be caught, or 

 be starved inside, for he could not possibly scratch his way 

 out through the stony face of the cliff. Twice he found 

 his way back to his old home, but after being sent away 

 for the third time he returned no more. 



There was formerly a very small plantation close to 

 the Hall, in the park at Kirby, and every year there used 

 to be a litter of cubs reared there. As it was scarcely a 

 hundred yards from the windows of the house we saw 

 them almost daily, and most interesting it was to watch 

 their antics, running after one another and rolling each 

 other over, just like so many puppies. In snow-time they 

 would often come out of the earth about 2 p.m. and play 

 about before going away to seek for their dinners. One 

 afternoon whilst we were watching, two that were gambol- 

 ling about suddenly stopped and apparently held a 

 conference. One of them then cantered off while the 

 other went into the plantation and lay down just behind 

 the hedge, where we could just dimly make out its form. 

 In about ten minutes' time we descried a hare coming 

 across the park, more than a quarter of a mile away, and 

 following behind it came the other fox. The hare went 

 first of all into a plantation by the stables, but being 

 driven out of this shelter by her pursuer, she at length was 

 manoeuvred by it to enter the other plantation, from 

 whence it never again emerged. We could not actually 

 see the fox that was in waiting make its spring, but as 

 the one that was pursuing galloped up at once, as soon as 

 the hare had gone through the hedge, no doubt it was 

 aware that its comrade had carried out the programme 

 correctly. Unfortunately it proved to be too troublesome 



