WILY’S STORY.

I was born on the 25th day of March, in the year
——. Within three or four weeks from that
day of the year every fox of us in this country
is probably brought forth; and it seems espe-
cially designed that the female should thus pro-
duce her only litter in the year at. a season when
our favourite food, young rabbits, are most abun-
dant. The spot in which I first drew breath was
_ 4 breeding-earth, carefully chosen by my mother,
in a well known covert, called Park Coppice, situ-
ated in the centre of the Hampshire Hunt. It
was not until the tenth day after my birth that I
first saw light, or acquired sufficient strength to
crawl with safety to any little distance round our
nest. Had I earlier possessed the use of sight, I
might have strayed beyond my warm shelter, and