72 FOX. Class I. 



animal will produce with the dog kind •, which may 

 be well founded ; fince it has been proved that the 

 congenerous wolf will*. Mr. Brook^ animal-mer- 

 chant in Holborn^ turned a wolf to a Pomeranian 

 bitch then in heat : the congrefs was immediate, 

 with the circumftances ufual with the canine fpecies. 

 The bitch brought ten whelps, one of which I 

 afterwards faw at the Duke of Gordon's in Scotland. 

 It bore a great refemblance to the male parent, and 

 had much of its nature : being flipped at a weak 

 deer, it inftantly caught at the animal's throat and 

 killed it. The fox fleeps much in the day, but 

 is in motion the whole night in fearch of prey. It 

 v/ill feed on flefh of any kind, but its favourite food 

 is lambs, rabbets, hares, poultry, and feathered 

 game. It will, when urged by hunger, eat carrots 

 and infe61:s ; and thofe that live near the fea-coafts, 

 will, for want of other food, eat crabs, ihrimps, or 



/ 



* M. de Buffon alTerts the contrary, and gives the following 

 account of the experiment he had made, y en fis garder trois 

 pendant deux ansy une femelle l£ deux males : on tent a inutilement 

 de les f aires accoiipler a'vec des chiennes ; quoiqu'ils n^eiijjent jamais 

 'vu de femelle de leur e/pece, et quails pamjfent prejfes du befoin de 

 jouir, ils ne purtnt s*y determiner, ils refuferent toutes les chiennes y 

 mais des qu'on leur prefe7ita leiir femelle legitime, ils la cowvrirenty 

 quoiqii'enchaines, et elk produifit quatre petits, Hiji. Naturelle, vii. 

 8l. The fame experiments were tried with a bitch and a male 

 fox, and with a dog and a female wolf, and as M, de Buffon 

 fays with the fame ill fuccefs. Vol. v. 210, 212. but the 

 h&. jull cited, proves the poffibility paft conteft. 



fliell 



