Vulpine Reaction A queer incident is reported in some local
papers in Western England. A workman engaged in loading trusses of stacked hay into a wagon felt an acute pain at the back of his leg and a strong pull on his coat. Apparently a fox had been sleeping between the bales—doubtless a very snug berth—and the man's leg had peradventure stopped his egress. When he had destroyed his attacker, with almost instinctive reaction, he found his clothes much torn and his leg bleeding. The fox is a strange mixture of courage and caution I have seen a cub bite furiously at the draining spade which was being used to dig out an earth. On the other hand, in the same Midland neighbourhood, where the fox is still sacro- sanct, a well-grown dog fox was successfully kept off a brood of chicks by a turkey-cock, who fought an able and courageous rearward action across the breadth of a large field. Whether a badger ever attacked a man (as a group of stoats have been known to do) I have no idea ; but one of them bit my leg and thrust it aside as I endeavoured (in boyhood) to stop it returning to its earth.
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