Mr. Dale puts forward a theory to account for the preference often shown by the breeding vixen for a badger’s cete which commends itself; he suggests that the presence of the badger offers a measure of protection against the invasion of terriers—an advantage which perhaps would be fully appreciated by an animal so intelligent as the fox. True, not every badger has a welcome for the fox which takes up its quarters in the cete, as witness the cubs killed by badgers, after the method which makes the cause of death unmistakable; but we must allow for the varying temperament and disposition of individual members of any given species.
“WHEN ALL IS QUIET.”
From “The Fox”: “Fur, Feather and Fin” Series. (By permission of the Publishers.)
An excellent and suggestive chapter is that on the “Education of the Fox,” and one that greatly tempts us to quotation; one remark only we reproduce, however, for the benefit of the soft-hearted people who see nothing but “cruelty” in foxhunting: “Hunting is his life: being hunted, but an episode.” There is the whole history of fox-life in a sentence. Early in the next chapter, on “The Mind of the Fox,” however, Mr. Dale hazards the conjecture that “it is not certain that he (the fox) is in reality more intelligent than other wild animals.” Flat treason this, Mr. Dale! Does not nearly every page of this most readable and thoughtful book of yours plead for a verdict in the contrary sense? We grant the cunning of hunted deer and hare, we accept their wiles as proof of high intelligence; but we cannot have it that the fox, the most assiduous of hunters and the most assiduously hunted, does not excel these in sagacity and resource. We would base our contention on the principle that a beast of prey which owes his existence to his skill and talent for circumventing other wild creatures, must of necessity develop higher mental faculties, more acute reasoning powers, if you will, than one which finds food ever ready to his mouth; and we would urge that your own wide knowledge of fox habit and wile fully justify your subsequent observation that the “intelligence which is necessary for the survival of the race is very marked.”
When he comes to such matters as fox preservation and the home and haunts of the fox, the author of necessity is on much trodden ground, but nevertheless he has the art of putting familiar facts in a new and entertaining form. Incidentally it may be noted that the old-time method of dragging up to the fox’s kennel is still followed by the Fell packs as well as on Exmoor. Those who know not the coastline of Somerset and Devon will find much to interest them in the author’s remarks on the cliff-haunting foxes and the difficulties of killing them; but Mr. Dale does not believe that foxes which settle in a covert inland ever, of their own will, return to the cliffs. This, we imagine, is highly probable; the advantages of covert life appear to compare more than favourably with those of a cliff existence.
In the chapter on “The Hunted Fox” we again naturally encounter the question of fox intelligence, and here we find ourselves in complete accord with our author. “If there were none but clever foxes we should soon give up hunting; if there were none but simple ones we should soon have no more foxes to hunt. The variability of the fox (as regards his intelligence) is an advantage to the race and to the sport.”
The suggestion that one cause of the degeneracy of foxes is that more of the straight-running (i.e., simple-minded) are killed than of the cunning foxes which use their wits to beat hounds, deserves notice. The dodging fox lives longer to reproduce his kind, endued with his qualities of cunning and wile.
When considering the “Fox as Outlaw,” Mr. Dale gives some very interesting figures relating to expenditure on hunting. He calculates that in a certain country the money spent by the master and members of the hunt on horses, hounds, food, and wages, represents £36 per head spent on each fox killed. It would not be difficult to prove the expenditure much larger, but the argument will serve as it stands. Passing over the “Fox in Fable”—proof, surely, of the superiority of wisdom attributed to the fox from very early times—and a very interesting chapter on jackal-hunting in India, we have a few pages on what we may call the economic aspects of the fox, as represented by the pelts of his foreign relatives. The work concludes with a chapter on the congenial topic of hunting. The ethical view of the matter is boldly faced, and the gist of the case is simply that foxes must be killed, and if not fairly killed by hounds, would meet their fate in some other way, probably more painful. The fox fulfils his mission in this country as a medium for the distribution of cash where it is most wanted, and as a source of pleasure; and all hunting men will heartily agree with the writer of this charming book when he says that “hardly any animal has, in the long history of its race, been of more importance in the literature and life of man, or is more interesting as a study of animal life and mind.” Mr. Archibald Thorburn’s drawings are most admirable.