FOXES AND OTHER NEIGHBORS 261 



perience which made him think more of the cruelty 

 and less of the grace. Four of his ducks got out of 

 the pen one day and waddled down to the brook. 

 He did not discover their loss till morning, and set 

 out after them. Two of them were swimming 

 around, one had disappeared completely, and the 

 fourth lay half on the bank, half in the water, dead, 

 its throat torn and bitten. He left its body as a bait 

 and set three traps around it. But though he 

 caught first a crow and then a marsh-hawk, which 

 dropped down to investigate, he never got the mink. 

 It is only the craftiest trapper who can get a mink ; 

 and great his rejoicing now when he does, for the 

 prime skins are bringing double figures. After all, 

 the hunter is not alone to blame if our wild life 

 disappears. His wife has much to answer for. 



