-FOX-CUBS.
[To ens EDITOR or - THE n`c SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Mr. Douglas Gordon's delightful story of the "Fox- Cubs " stirs memories in an " ancient." Some years ago, in Cheshire, I saw a litter at play. The cubs were older than those seen by Mr. Gordon; their frolics were charming to watch, but they had not learnt the '" ball game." 'North of the Treat one must not look for too high civilization, so-com- placent Southerners used to say. Whether -they believed this is another matter. The old fable stories of the wily fox I have seen exemplified. I was out with my gun before sunrise. The white "sent " of a rabbit rushed off; I fired. It was too dark to find it in the cover. I picked -it up when real daylight came. In the interval, standing on a rock some twenty feet above a grass side, which was levelled out of the side of a-sloping cliff, with gorse above and below, I saw a •number of rabbits of various age getting their morning meal. I watched awhile, considering which should be my victim, when, lo! from the upper slope a fox stole out and began to gambol, prancing and tossing his head and his stern. The rabbits showed no alarm, but looked on with apparent curiosity. When " brer fox" had manoeuvred himself into what he must have reckoned " striking distance;" he made his grab, which in this case was unsuccessful. In a twinkling all the rabbits " took cover "; reynard was left disconsolate,---I am, Sir, &c.,
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