152 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



case where a vixen was actually seen to accomplish 

 this wonderful feat. With her cubs, she had been 

 dug out from her earth, carried to a distant 

 A Fox s p ar t of the country, and imprisoned. The 

 four-inch mesh must have been a tight 

 fit for her body ; but perhaps she had worried 

 and fretted at her imprisonment, until she had worn 

 herself to a shadow. Her cubs, which were un weaned, 

 may have helped to weaken her strength, and reduce 

 her waist until it could squeeze through the netting. 



The story has a sequel. A town doctor saw the 

 vixen a few moments after her escape ; and happened 

 to find himself sitting next to a M.F.H. at dinner. 

 The doctor remarked, with a well-meant attempt at 

 affability, " Foxes seem to be plentiful in your 

 neighbourhood this year." " What makes you think 

 so ? " asked the M.F.H. , with encouraging eagerness. 

 44 Why, only the other day, passing your place about 

 noon, I saw a vixen with cubs trotting across your 

 lawn." The doctor swiftly perceived that he had 

 let the fox out of the bag, so black was the look 

 that came over the Master's face. But it was months 

 before he solved the full riddle of the black look, 

 when he learned that the fox he had seen on the lawn 

 in broad daylight had only just escaped from her 

 wire-net prison, so saving herself from the ignominy 

 of being turned down with her cubs. 



The keeper finds his game-nests with his eyes, 

 the fox with his nose. The keeper who must 

 preserve game and preserves foxes takes steps to 



