OH. VIII.] FOXES v. GAME. 253 
running amuck during the night, and his or their 
bag had amounted (1 think) to forty-eight. Of 
this number two only were missing, the corpses of 
the remainder lying scattered here and there, as 
if they had just been nipped and left where they 
were caught. So little signs of violence did they 
exhibit, that only two, I believe, out of the whole 
number were minus their heads. The position of 
one bird was very remarkable, as shewing the trouble 
taken by the fox in the attainment of his nefarious 
ends. One side of the piece of grass in which the 
birds lay was separated by a somewhat deep and 
broad ditch from a rather high bank, topped by a 
blackthorn hedge which rose fully six feet above it. 
It was easy in the long dewy grass to follow the 
tracks of the fox or foxes, one of which led me to 
the ditch. This he had crossed, and, pursuing the 
investigation, I found to my surprise that he had 
actually worked his way right up the centre to the 
top of the hedge, caught and killed there a phea- 
sant which had doubtless flown thither for refuge, 
left it there as evidence against himself, and 
descended again by the way that he went up. 
There could be no doubt of the fact, for, the hedge 
being a thick one, he had left on the thorns no 
inconsiderable quantity of his coat en route. 
