The Instinct of Feigning Death 207 



that the expression "playing possum" is familiar to 

 every one. Foxes when trapped or hard pressed 

 often drop down limp and apparently lifeless and 

 will even endure a good deal of maltreatment with- 

 out making any response. Hudson records that he 

 was "once riding with a gaucho when we saw, on 

 the open level ground before us, a fox not yet fully 

 grown standing still and watching our approach. 

 All at once it dropped, and when we came up to 

 the spot it was lying stretched out, with eyes closed, 

 and apparently dead. Before passing on my com- 

 panion, who said it was not the first time he had 

 seen such a thing, lashed it vigorously with his whip 

 for some moments, but without producing the slight- 

 est effect." 



Mr. Morgan in his book on the beaver gives the 

 following instance on what he assures us is excellent 

 authority: "A fox one night entered the hen-house 

 of a farmer, and after destroying a large number of 

 fowls, gorged himself to such repletion that he could 

 not pass out through the small aperture by which 

 he had entered. The proprietor found him in the 

 morning sprawled out upon the floor apparently dead 

 from surfeit; and taking him up by the legs carried 

 him out unsuspectingly, and for some distance to 

 the side of his house, where he dropped him upon 

 the grass. No sooner did Reynard find himself free 

 than he sprang to his feet and made his escape." 

 Dogs are frequently deceived by this ruse of the 

 fox and doubtless foxes have many times owed their 



