THE FOX 61 



jaws. He sometimes works so cautiously as to 

 spring the trap without injury even to his toes, 

 or may remove the cheese night after night with- 

 out even springing it. I knew an old trapper 

 who, on finding himself outwitted in this man- 

 ner, tied a bit of cheese to the pan, and next 

 morning had poor Reynard by tlie jaw. The 

 trap is not fastened, but only incumbered with 

 a clog, and is all the more sure in its hold by 

 yielding to every effort of the animal to extricate 

 himself. 



When Reynard sees his captor approaching, 

 he would fain drop into a mouse-hole to render 

 himself invisible. He crouches to the ground 

 and remains perfectly motionless until he per- 

 ceives himself discovered, when he makes one 

 desperate and final effort to escape, but ceases 

 all struggling as you come up, and behaves in a 

 manner that stamps him a very timid warrior, — 

 cowering to the earth with a mingled look of 

 shame, guilt, and humiliation. A young farmer 

 told me of tracing one with his trap to the border 

 of a wood, where he discovered the cunning rogue 

 trying to hide by embracing a small tree. Most 

 animals, when taken in a trap, show fight; but 

 Reynard has more faith in the nimbleness of his 

 feet than in the terror of his teeth. 



I once spent a summer month in a mountain- 



