THE LIFE OF A FOX. 57

very hounds being brought to a small covert
or bog in this forest, so silently that they sur-
rounded me before I was aware, and I have
with difficulty got away from them. Indeed
many female foxes have thus been killed heavy
with cub, and in that state incapable of great
exertion. Had these females heard the hunts-
man’s voice in time, they might have moved and
run to earth, or shown in what state they were,
so that the hounds might have been stopped
in time to save their lives. As to the system
of not assisting the hounds, I am sure that every
fox will agree with me in approving it. Give
me. plenty of roads, and dry fallows, or a few
deer or sheep, and even when the scent is good.
I shall not fear to be killed by an unassisted
pack, Without such impediments a pack so
educated would be the most dangerous of all,
and even with them, if in the hands of a judi-
cious huntsman,

This pack was (alas! that I should say was,
for he is no more,) hunted by a kind-hearted
and excellent man, who has been heard to say,

D5