Prairie Red-fox 725 



the part of the Fox — it would be just as true to claim that a 

 Cougar has a comprehension of locomotor paralysis because 

 it aims to disrupt the spinal cord of its victim — but because the 

 evidence was faulty. The possibility of murder under such 

 circumstances is proved by the facts that cattle will often kill 

 one of their own kind that is in dire extremity; a crow in 

 trouble is sometimes destroyed by his friends; a Mouse in a 

 trap is often devoured by its own companions. E. Hofer 

 reports a case in the Yellowstone of a little Bear cub that 

 on the first night of its captivity was killed and eaten by 

 one of its adult wild kinsmen. In menageries many car- 

 nivorous mothers, including Foxes, kill a large proportion 

 of their own young, especially when they learn that man 

 has tampered with them. And, finally. Wolves and Foxes 

 have certainly grasped the idea that poison is a thing of 

 danger. These various facts bring us much nearer to accept- 

 ance of the hunter's tradition, without, however, being con- 

 clusive. They at least remove it from the category of the 

 wildly impossible. 



It is well known that the English Fox will unite with 

 another, probably its mate, to catch a Hare, by the old strata- 

 gem of drive and ambush. W. R. Hine reports a similar 

 subtlety on the part of the Manitoba species. 



Near Morris, in 1885, he once saw 2 Foxes working to- 

 gether to stalk some Canada geese that were feeding on the open 

 prairie. One Fox was lying in wait in some slight cover; the 

 other was approaching from the opposite direction, one hundred 

 yards away. It crawled as close as possible, then, seeing that 

 the ever-watchful geese were alarmed, it began to roll about on 

 its back in plain view, and tumble over, looking much like a 

 bundle of dry grass that is being blown about by the wind. 

 Each move brought it nearer to the geese, who, knowing it well 

 for an enemy, kept moving away as they grazed, and thus 

 drifted towards the Fox in ambush. Hine was satisfied that 

 the two were working together, but did not see it out. When 

 he had got within about fifty yards he 'collected' the Fox and 

 a goose with 'right and left.' 



