MOUNTAIN FOXES. Ill 



meagre and hard to find ; and the shifts he 

 makes and the pittance he has to put up with 

 must sorely pinch him in winter. In summer, 

 mountain hares and wildfowl are not difficult 

 to obtain ; but in times of severity these crea- 

 tures descend the mountains, drawing nearer 

 to the haunts of men. Then he is glad to get- 

 rats and mice, even beetles and earthworms. 

 Hedgehogs' skins may be found near his "earth," 

 and when frogs are obtainable he considers 

 them delicacies. Upon one occasion I found 

 stored up twenty-three Shrew-mice ; though 

 why they should have been stored instead of 

 eaten I cannot conjecture. Strangest of all, 

 Foxes are extremely fond of fresh-water Cray- 

 fish, obtaining them from the mountain streams 

 in summer when the water is low. 



A curious habit, and one in which the moun- 

 tain-Fox invariably indulges, is that of fre- 

 quently stopping to listen when leaving the 

 " earth." At first about a hundred yards divides 

 each halt, but when further away the dis- 

 tance increases. In retiring to the crags, foxes 

 never enter from below — always from above. 

 Owing to its tread being much lighter than 

 a man's, and its hearing quicker, it is rarely 



