ON SURREY HILLS. 



as he went there for it and played with it like a 

 kitten, tossing it up and cuffing it from side to side 

 before eating it. The vixen littered and brought up 

 her cubs on that same carriage -drive close to the 

 mansion. The fact of her being there was known 

 only to two people, and they kept the knowledge to 

 themselves. 



My own personal acquaintance with the fox has 

 always been in connection with farms, and the high- 

 roads running close to them. That a fox and vixen 

 could make their earth close to a farmyard gate, 

 bring up their cubs and play with them there, so that 

 any passers-by on the road could see them, sounds 

 improbable. But I can myself vouch for this fact. 

 He is a protected animal, to what extent those only 

 know who are affected to their loss by his living near 

 them. 



A keeper who had been discharged for some im- 

 puted blame, where a fox was concerned, once said 

 to me : " If you lets 'em get into mischief you hears 

 somethin' middlin' stiff; an' if they cums more 'an 

 once to the covers and don't find a fox, you soon 

 gits the billet. I've known 'em turned out of a bag 

 afore now : they'd got 'em from Leadenhall Market, 



