190 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



sent over early^ and they dug most of the day, and 

 found Caesar between a dead fox and two living ones ! 

 The two heads have been stuffed and mounted on one 

 board." 



This occurrence is all the more inexplicable from the 

 dog and one of the foxes being found dead^ while the 

 two others were alive. Might it be that the terrier and 

 chased fox, after a long exhausting run, were smothered 

 in the hole by their own hard breathing ? If not, how 

 came they dead ? 



TOO TOUGH FOR EVEN A BADGER'S TOOTH. 



In the same letter my fox-hunting friend gives account 

 of another incident; curious, too, but this time more 

 comical than serious. Thus runs it : — 



"On the 12th of December we found, and had a good 

 run, though ringing, and fox put into a drain close before 

 hounds. The terriers soon bolted what I at once saw was 

 a fresh fox; but hounds viewed him, and ran him to 

 ground by the side of the river. I at once took them 

 back to hunted fox, and found that two hounds and 

 terriers had killed him in the drain. On opening it, a 

 badger was also found in the drain; beside it a china egg, 

 no doubt taken from a farm close by." 



No doubt it was taken from the farm, and by the badger, 

 for how otherwise could it get into the drain ? The egg 

 was one of those in common use as " nest eggs ■" ; and, as 

 is well known, these animals prowl around farmsteads by 

 night in search of real eggs, not counterfeits, and chicks 

 as well. The curious part of it is the badger not dis- 

 covering the counterfeit till he had carried it into the 



