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 



