o There were other enemies, however, whom 

 no law restrained save the universal wood- 

 <3f/ie OfBeech laws of fear and hunger. Often I found 

 ^/^a'Trid^e ^he trail of a fox crossing his in the snow; 

 ^fc^ and once I followed a double trail, fox over 



grouse, for nearly half a mile. The fox had 

 struck the trail late the previous afternoon, 

 and followed it to a bullbrier thicket, in the 

 midst of which was a great cedar, in which 

 the old beech partridge roosted. The fox 

 went twice around the tree, halting and look- 

 ing up, then went straight away to the swamp, 

 as if he knew it was of no use to watch 

 longer. 



Rarely, when the snow was deep, I found 

 the place where he went to sleep on the 

 ground. He would plunge down from a 

 tree into the soft snow, driving into it head- 

 first for three or four feet, then turn around 

 and settle down in his white warm chamber 

 for the night. I would find the small hole 

 where he plunged in at evening, and near it 

 the great hole where he burst out when the 

 light waked him. Taking my direction from 

 his wing prints in the snow, I would follow 



