BEAUTY OF THE FOX 53 
the equal of this one; yet he was, I daresay, an 
ordinary specimen, with nothing to distinguish him 
from any other large dog fox in good condition 
with a fine coat of hair and a thick brush. It was 
in Savernake Forest that, on emerging from a 
beech-wood, I noticed at a distance of seventy to 
eighty yards away on the wide green level open 
space before me a number of rabbits sitting up at 
the mouths of their burrows, all staring in wide- 
eyed alarm in one direction. Not at me, but 
towards a patch of dead rust-red bracken, some 
clumps of which were still standing, although the 
time was now the end of March. At intervals 
some of the rabbits would drop their fore-feet 
down and begin nibbling at the grass; then in a 
moment they would all start up and stare once 
more at the patch of bracken. I walked slowly to 
this red patch, and when I approached it a large 
fox got up and moved reluctantly away. The 
rough red fern on which he had been lying had 
made him invisible to me until he moved; but he 
had been plainly visible to the rabbits all the time. 
He trotted quietly away to a distance of about 
forty yards, then stopped, and half turning round, 
stood regarding me for some time. Standing on 
that carpet of vivid green spring grass, with the 
clear morning sunlight full on him, his red colour 
took an intensity and richness never previously 
seen. In form he appeared no less distinguished 
than in colour. His sharp, subtle face, large, leaf- 
shaped pointed ears, black without and _ white 
