Although foxes move about to a certain extent by day, most of their peregrinations are made during the hours of darkness. There is no doubt that a fox can see well in the dark, for his eyes are more like a cat’s than a dog’s. Taxidermists usually put dark eyes with round pupils in their mounted fox masks, whereas the real eye is amber-coloured, with veins, and a pupil which contracts to a narrow oval or ellipse. A mask so mounted has a much more foxy expression. I only know one firm of taxidermists who do really good work on fox masks, and that is Peter Spicer and Sons, of Leamington. I can “spot” a mask done by them, out of any number of others.
I have heard it said that a fox dislikes travelling down wind when the latter is strong, because it blows his brush about, but in my own experience I have known foxes travel both up and down wind in a gale, and it did not appear to inconvenience them. As for not facing a strong wind, a fox will make his point on the fells so long as he can keep his feet at all. A fox stands much lower than a man, and the wind has not the same extent of surface to act upon.
As I have previously mentioned, a fox uses his brush to help him in turning quickly, and as an aid to balance. He also appears to use it when suddenly increasing his pace. Not long ago I saw a fox found by hounds, and he at once took to the rough ground, with the pack running in view. He soon outdistanced them, and slackened his pace, till the leading hound, which had not been saying much, owing to the steepness of the ground, suddenly shot into view. The fox saw the hound, and quickly altered his speed, while he swung his brush with a circular movement, as if using it like a screw to give him renewed impetus. I have seen a fox keep his brush revolving in a similar manner when very hard pressed by hounds downhill on steep ground, but under average conditions he carries it straight and stiff behind him.
The fell fox is always in better training than his relations in the low country, because he has, as a rule, much further to go in search of food, and his beat is a wide one. He is generally lean and hard, though now and then one comes across a fox carrying a certain amount of fat. A fox, like a hare, or any other hunted animal for that matter, if forced beyond the limit of his beat, is more or less nonplussed, and runs in an aimless manner. I remember a run of this kind in the 1918-19 season, when hounds killed a big dog-fox in the open. During the latter part of the run, this fox took refuge in a shed adjoining a house. Leaving this unsafe retreat, he travelled on, and, after passing a number of places where he could easily have got to ground, eventually lay down on the fell side. As hounds drew near he jumped up, and they never broke view till they rolled him over, stiff as a poker. It was plain to see he was in country strange to him, but the first part of the run had been very fast, and hounds had forced him downhill off his own range of mountains, and so to his eventual undoing.
During the war foxes increased on the fells, and, at any rate in the Windermere district, some of them have been found lying at a lower altitude than usual. Also the Windermere Harriers have not been hunting this season, 1919-20, so that foxes from the hills may have taken advantage of the unusual quietude of haunts near the dales. The increase on the high ground has led also to foxes putting in an appearance in country some distance from the fells, where they have not been seen for many years.
The war was a handicap to sport on the fells, just as it affected hunting in the Shires and elsewhere. The shortage of horses was not, of course, felt, but with so many followers away at the front, huntsmen of the fell packs were obliged to work practically single-handed. A number of experienced hunters scattered about the fell tops are a great help to a huntsman, and the want of them is quickly felt. Now, however, all the fell packs are in full swing again, and prospects for the future appear rosy.
“See, there he creeps along; his brush he drags
And sweeps the mire impure; from his wide jaws
His tongue unmoistened hangs; symptoms too sure