THE FOX. 93 



uncover the trap, and leave the marks of his con- 

 tempt for it in a way you cannot mistake, or else he 

 will not approach within a rod of it. Occasionally, 

 however, he finds in a trapper more than his match, 

 and is fairly caught. When this happens, the trap, 

 which must be of the finest make, is never touched 

 with the bare hand, but, after being thoroughly 

 smoked and greased, is set in a bed of dry ashes, or 

 chaff, in a remote field where the fox has been em- 

 boldened to dig for several successive nights for mor- 

 sels of toasted cheese. 



A light fall of snow aids the trapper's art and con- 

 spires to Reynard's ruin. But how lightly he is 

 caught, when caught at all! barely the end of his 

 toes, or at most a spike through the middle of his 

 foot. I once saw a large painting of a fox struggling 

 with a trap which held him by the hind leg, above 

 the gambrel-joint ! A painting alongside of it repre- 

 sented a peasant driving an ox-team from the off- 

 side ! A fox would be as likely to be caught above 

 the gambrel-joint as a farmer would to drive his 

 team from the off-side. I knew one that was caught 

 by the tip of the lower jaw. He came nightly, and 

 took the morsel of cheese from the pan of the trap 

 without springing it. A piece was then secured to 

 the pan by a thread, with the result as above stated. 



I have never been able to see clearly why the 

 mother-fox generally selects a burrow or hole in the 

 open field in which to have her young, except it be, 

 as some hunters maintain, for better security. The 



