LITTLE BEASTS OF FIELD AND WOOD 



again, it turned also and followed me to the foot 

 of the hill, still yelling. Most wild animals are 

 bold enough in defence of their young, and 

 the fox is no exception ; but I have never since 

 then seen one carry it to quite that degree 

 of recklessness, though recklessness is beyond 

 question one of the prominent traits of fox 

 nature, and its wildness is, I am confident, the 

 result of careful calculation, and not timidity. 



It is difficult to understand how so keen an 

 observer as Thoreau should have seen so little 

 of them. I recall but two or three places in all 

 his writings where he mentions having seen one, 

 and in one place he says, " It is remarkable 

 how many tracks of foxes you will see quite near 

 the village, where they have been in the night, 

 and yet a regular walker will not glimpse one 

 oftener than once in eight or ten years." Now 

 it is hardly likely that they are very much more 

 abundant here at present than they were in Con- 

 cord in Thoreau's day ; yet I remember four 



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