THE LIFE OF A FOX. 35

The breeding season for game now came on,
and being still young I frequently was near
being tempted to seize an old bird as she ‘sat on
her eggs, but the difference in the scent of
the bird prevented me. At length, when I had
been prowling about near a farm yard in which
poultry were kept, one night that I had not
met with other food, I pounced on a hen which
was sitting in a hedge, but the state she was in
gave such an unpleasant taste to her flesh, that
after eating a little I left it, and have never
since touched a bird of any sort when sitting.
She has at that time, indeed, but little flesh on
her bones, and I believe that no old fox will
take one for his own eating, although a female
may sometimes carry one off, when hard pressed
for food for her young. The same instinct which
prevents hounds from hunting a fox with young,
thus prevents much destruction of. birds when
sitting. It seems like a design of Nature, to
save the race of birds that have their nests on
the ground, from being entirely destroyed by our-
selves, or by vermin, such as stoats and weasels.

c 6