258 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
plunges from on wing into the soft snow, where it remains 
concealed for a day or two. The fox occasionally surprises 
these birds, and as he is usually stimulated at this inclement 
season, by the gnawings of hunger, he is compelled to seek 
for food by day as well as by night; his fresh track may be 
seen in the fields, along the fences, and on the skirts of the 
farm-yard, as well as in the deep forest. Nothing is easier 
than to track the fox under these favorable circumstances, 
and the trail having been discovered, it is followed up until 
Reynard is started. 
Now the chase begins; the half-hound yells out, in tones 
far removed from the mellow notes of the thorough-bred dog, 
but equally inspiriting, perhaps, through the clear frosty air, 
as the solitary hunter eagerly follows, as fast as his limited 
powers of locomotion will admit. At intervals of three or 
four minutes, the sharp cry of the dog resounds, the fox has no 
time to double and shuffle, the dog is at his heels almost, and 
speed, speed, is his only hope of life. Now the shrill baying 
of the hound becomes irregular; we may fancy he is at the 
throat of his victim; the hunter is far in the rear, toiling 
along the track which marks the course so well contested, 
but occasionally the voice of his dog, softehed by the distance, 
is borne on the wind to his ear. 
For a mile or two the fox keeps ahead of his pursuer; but 
the latter has the longest legs, and the snow impedes him less 
than it does poor Reynard. Every bound and plunge into’ 
the snow ‘diminishes the distance between the fox and his 
relentless foe. Onward they rush, through field, fence, brush- 
wood, and open forest, the snow flying from bush and briar 
as they dart through the copse, or speed across the newly 
cleared field. 
But this desperate race cannot last longer; the fox must 
gain his burrow, or some cavernous rock, or he dies. Alas! 
he has been lured too far away fiom his customary haunts, 
and from his secure retreat, in search of prey; he is unable 
