FURRED AND FEATHERED YOUNGSTERS. 19 



and deliver if possible one of his hen seraglio ; he 

 shoots up the bank and into the copse, but evidently 

 meets with some obstruction there, for strange 

 sounds proceed from him. The sheep-dog forgets 

 his scraps from the dinner and ' leaps over into the 

 grass-field, very much alive, and ready to go at 

 anything. As for the retriever, he would break 

 from his collar-chain if he could. 



Out come the farmer and his men. The master 

 has his double. Directly he sees the marks on. 

 the soil of the bank, he turns on his heel, saying, 

 " Don't let them have the fowls if you can help it ; 

 but the hunt will settle." 



In less than ten minutes one of the hands, 

 followed by the sheep-dog, brings the slaughtered 

 fowls into the meadow. It may be hereditary 

 instinct, or fox villainy, which is never to be eradi- 

 cated, but it is a fact well known, and in some 

 instances a very expensive fact, that Master Rey- 

 nard's young folks, pretty and agile as they are, 

 do require a large amount of the most dainty 

 nourishment in order to fully develop all their 

 vulpine faculties. Yet in spite of all their fond 

 parent's misdeeds done for their benefit, together 



