96 The Fox 
escape them can but command a certain respect from 
his human pursuers, a respect which cannot be felt 
for an animal like the opossum. 
In the shadowy depths of his mother’s burrow, the 
baby fox first opens his eyes upon a world in which 
his part is to be a continual struggle; struggle not 
only for daily sustenance, but a struggle to escape the 
snares and pitfalls laid for him by his arch enemy— 
man. Among the fox kindred it is a survival of 
the fittest, combined with a wonderful development 
of hereditary habit, which has fostered, and in some 
cases multiphed, their race. 
When pursued by a hound, the fox may deceive it 
in several ways, such as doubling on his trail, walking 
on fences, or wading in shallow water. The last ruse 
is by far the most effective. Nevertheless the hunting 
of the fox is most successfully accomplished by means 
of the hound. In the Northern States the hunting 
season begins in November; but the real sport comes 
a little later, when the ground is covered with a light 
snow, for then the hound can follow the trail more 
easily. A trail must be fresh if a dog is to follow it 
over the frozen ground with any degree of speed, 
and on a ploughed field it is almost hopeless. 
Perhaps a few reminiscences of fox hunting will 
Serve, better than anything else, to give those unac- 
