 To defend his novel against charges of improbability, he recounts his observations of wild foxes and discusses other people's stories about fox behavior.Regarding the actions Tod takes in eluding the hunters, he details both witnessing wild foxes performing such acts and stories others shared with him that he used as a basis for some of the story's events.For example, he notes that while people have told him that foxes do not really run among sheep or cattle herds to escape hounds, he himself used to watch them do just that from his bedroom window.