THE RACOON DOG. 259 



spend on his hounds and stable not less than $20,000 a year. To this 

 must be added the cost of maintaining covers for the foxes, and a stock 

 of game and rabbits for their food, as well as the cost ot earth-stopping, 

 an operation which has to be performed on the evening before the 

 chase. 



The fox is susceptible of being tamed to a certain extent, but it seems 

 impossible to eradicate entirely its instincts for plunder. Its cunning is 

 no doubt great, but has been very much exaggerated by popular imag- 

 ination, in which there still linger reminiscences of the astuteness ascribed 

 to him in the great beast-epic of " Reynard the Fox," which had unex- 

 ampled popularity in the Middle Ages, and which Goethe did not disdain 

 to modernize for our age. The subjoined story evinces the possession 

 of considerable intelligence. 



Two foxes, located in a neighborhood where hares abounded, adopted 

 an ingenious stratagem for capturing them. One of them lay in ambush 

 on the side of a road ; the other started the quarry and pursued it with 

 ardor, with the object of driving the game into the road guarded by his 

 associate. From time to time, by an occasional bark, the associate in am- 

 bush was notified how the chase was succeeding. When a hare was driven 

 into the road, it was immediately pounced on, and both foxes devoured 

 it in thorough good-fellowship. Nevertheless, it sometimes happened 

 that the fox who kept watch miscalculated his spring, and the hare 

 escaped ; then, as though puzzled at his want of skill, he resumed his 

 post, jumped on to the road, and several times repeated the movement. 

 His comrade arriving in the middle of this exercise, was not slow to 

 comprehend its meaning, and irritated at being fatigued to no purposs, 

 chastised his clumsy associate; but a tussle of a few minutes sufficed 

 to expend the bad humor, and the entente cordiale was quickly re- 

 established. 



THE RACOON DOG. 



The Racoon Dog, Canis procyonidcs, is very like a weasel in shape, 

 but has no near allies. The long body rests on short, weak legs ; the 

 head is short, narrow, and pointed ; the tail very short and bushy ; the 

 color is dark-brown ; the under fur is very thick, but the long hair is as 

 rough as the coat of a badger. 



This species is found in Japan and China, and is not rare on the tncu- 

 taries of the Upper Amoor River. It is shy and timid by day, but by 



