THE FOX. 95 



The more scientific aspects of the question may not 

 be without interest to some of my readers. The fox 

 belongs to the great order of flesh-eating animals 

 called Carnivora, and to the family called Canidce, or 

 dogs. The wolf is a kind of wild dog, and the fox 

 is a kind of wolf. Foxes, unlike wolves, however, 

 never go in packs or companies, but hunt singly. 

 The fox has a kind of bark, which suggests the dog, 

 as have all the members of this family. The kinship 

 is further shown by the fact that during certain pe- 

 riods, for the most part in the summer, the dog can- 

 not be made to attack or even pursue the female 

 fox, but will run from her in the most shamefaced 

 manner, which he will not do in the case of any other 

 animal except a wolf. Many of the ways and manners 

 of the fox, when tamed, are also like the dog's. I 

 once saw a young red fox exposed for sale in the 

 market in Washington. A colored man had him, 

 and said he had caught him out in Virginia. He led 

 him by a small chain, as he would a puppy, and 

 the innocent young rascal would lie on his side and 

 bask and sleep in the sunshine, amid all the noise 

 and chaffering around him, precisely like a dog. 

 He was about the size of a full-grown cat, and there 

 was a bewitching beauty about him that I could 

 hardly resist. On another occasion, I saw a gray fox 

 about two-thirds grown, playing with a dog, about 

 the same size, and by nothing in the manners of either 

 could you tell which was the dog and which was the 

 fox. 



