MAMMALS. 53 



born in the County, near Ludlow. He says that it was 

 the duty of great lords to hunt in friths and forests to 

 find the Foxes and other beasts that are in the wild 

 woods and in waste places, including Wolves, that 

 worry men, women and children (see " Salopian Shreds 

 and Patches, 1883, p. 132 and 174). The fur of the 

 Wolf is long and thick, with a woolly undercoat ; 

 colour, reddish grey, varying between light and very 

 dark shades. Total length, 5 feet. It is still found 

 in France, Spain, Switzerland, Piedmont, and through- 

 out Northern Europe, Asia and America, living in wild 

 forest land, and feeding on any animals it is able to 

 kill. It is of a retiring disposition, and is not known 

 to attack man except when much pressed by hunger, 

 especially in winter, when it hunts in packs. It occupies 

 a prominent place in literature in the familiar nursery 

 tale of Red Riding Hood, the ancient Fables of JEsop, 

 and the more modern stories of " Uncle Remus," as 

 well as novels, etc., dealing with hair-breadth escapes 

 in the frozen regions of Russia. The Wolf is really 

 only a species of Dog, and, though it seems incapable 

 of domestication, it is known to interbreed with our 

 domestic races of Dogs. 



FOX (Fern. Vixen). In England the Fox is surrounded 



Canis vulpes. by a kind of romantic halo owing to 



its association with the national sport 



of the country. From time immemorial it has been 



adopted in literature as the type of cunning and sagacity, 



and is represented in fable as invariably getting the 



best of other animals by its cleverness. The wiles it 



adopts to escape from the pursuing hounds have been 



so often recorded that there is no need to describe them 



