The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-14

to. Charlie flung himself down on his side panting and then erept to the water pan and lapped eagerly. The sounds of the approaching hunt did not disturb him; he was safe. and the hounds went home without blood. Charlie had come six or seven miles in straight line to his home. I think that in all his wanderings he had, as it were, kept in mind the bearings of hi kennel, and in time of need Ca scent ing day and quick pack, had fled thther for shelter.
 What became of Charlie We do not know. The next day he was let out and slunk away, as if half ashamed of being glad to go Of course it does not need to have been tame fox to seek, when closely pressed, refuge with men, but the following is a remarkable instance among many l have known. A relative of my own was the rector of a parish mot far from OxfordD situated in a first rate hunting country. One day as he was returning across the fields from his parish round he heard the horn and then the cry of hounds The pack ran into the next field and checked Presently the rector saw a fox coming toward him. It came up boldly alongside and trotted along with him just like q dog. The huntsmen, looking about, saw nothing but the rector with his dog walking quiet ly alongside him across the field and concluding no doubt that they had headed the fox, cast in quite another direction and eventually the fox was given up and the pack taken off to find another.
 In the meantime as soon as the coast was clear. the fox, apparently satisfied that all was well, gave a whisk of his brush and disappeared through the hedge row. Of course 1t is possible that this might have been a tame fox once upon a time and so have learned to trust as well as fear man. But I am bound to say that in choosing the rector, who was not sportsman and whose sympathies oer- tainly were with him, the fox showed a remarkably wise discretion and much dis comment
 This anecdote may carry us by an easy transition from the tame to the wild foxes. Here we are on familiar ground, for while comparatively few people have or care to have much knowledge of tame foxes, almost every man who lives in a hunting country has known of =. - more foxes of note. Of those l have myself known, one or two are fixed in my memory as remarkable for their intelli- gence. In some cases the foxes have shown great resource in escaping, yet at last their methods have been discovered and the fox betrayed to his pursuers and killed. Other instances there are in which the fox has been able to preserve his secret. and his method of escape has re- mained a mystery.
 One fox there was which, so far as l know, was never hunted at all. He was surely the cleverest of all l often saw him. He lived in a small covert not far from my own house. Needless to say the covert was kept quiet, and everything done to avoid disturbing it. The first time l made this foXs acquaintance, or rather failed to do so, was when hounds were meeting in the neighborhood. It was soon after my arrival there, and while 1 was at breakfast the gardener came to tell me he had seen a fox go into the little round wood known as the Pond dhrough there was no water in iO in the early morning. [ told the hunts man. who looked sceptlcal I've never known that place to hold a fox, but if you say so sir" However, when hounds came there was no fox l hinted to the gardener that he was mistaken, which he indignantly denied.
 Being an early riser I was trolling about a few hours later and saw the fox, a small red one, with very little tag to his brush trotting across the field told the huntsman and the next time hounds were that side of the country he ran the pack through the covert. We can't find that fox of yours nohow, sir" Yet not only was the fox there, but he made his presence felt. He was always about the place, He took chicken one afternoon, almost under the cooks nose.
 Another day he jumped out of the pig style, turned out by two of my terriers, and fled back to the covert. Yet we never found him when hunting. One afternoon l persuaded the huDtsman to bring has terriers, and we drew the little covert with them, and to my great delight out he came. Then as the fox seemed to know hunting day the master gave us a bye day, partly to rout a big wood and partly to look for this elusive beast We spent an hour and a half searching in every possible place for my fox. When at last I left the house he had still not been hunted. l do not think he was ever found elsewhere because we never ran a fox to this covert, or indeed anywhere near the house, and surely having so good a refuge he would have come there had he been pressed.
 Not half mile away over the hill was a wood which was a fairly certain find. but the foxes thence always ran the other way. So far as 1 know that fox never was hunted, and I quite believe that there are many foxes which by a similar Knowledge of a secure hiding place. or by shifting the pack on to the line of n fresh fox, escape being hunted altogether
 Another notable fox I knew was one of a litter brought from a Scotch shoot ing by friend who gave me this one As soon as he was old enough I put him down in a covert. l saw him once or twice during cub hunting. He was rather light colored and stood higher on the leg than our native foxes did For some time he disappeared. having. as I after ward found, shifted his quarters to a wood belonging to a hunting squire He had been seen here several times, as he always followed the shooters when the wood was beaten, and was generally viewed, halloaed by some enthusiastic fo-i hunter. At last one day the hounds found him. It was scenting day. but he lad rather the best of the start The whipper-in told me he had viewed him an was sure it was my "Scotch' cub: straight and well he ran, making a five mil, point He was eventually lost on the banks of stream.
 We'll that fox became an institution. When he was found he broke boldly and ran the same line almost yard for yard to the banks of the stream There he was always lost. For three seasons the Scotch fox was a standing dish and when the day on that side of the country was a poor one and we were spelling for q gallop we went to look for him, as sure of a find and a run as if we had him in A bag
 Nevertheless, I was very curious to kno1 how the escape was managed.
 
 Why He Did Not Marry.
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