An exciting moment for rabbiters comes if a fox bolts from a burrow
when only a rabbit is expected--so exciting a moment that if there is
a man with a gun the fox is lucky to escape a shot--especially should
he have in his mouth the quivering body of a favourite ferret. And the
ferret is lucky to come alive from a hole if he meets the fox in the
only passage by which he can leave the burrow. But ferrets often escape
if the burrow is not a proper fox-earth, but has been used only as a
temporary shelter. Even if caught in the fox's jaws there may be hope
for the ferret; we heard of one who was none the worse for a long ride
between a fox's teeth. Like dogs and cats, foxes can be soft-mouthed
if they will. We have known a fox to deal so tenderly with a captured
rabbit that it ran about after the long jaws had released their hold;
and for some time it amused its captor as a mouse amuses a cat. A fox,
when he wishes, can carry an egg without breaking the shell.
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