^x i) 



CHAPTER VII 



THE FOX 



the pen. 



T is scarcely possible to 

 describe, either with the 

 pencil or the pen, the 

 beauty and powers of 

 this extraordinary ani- 

 mal ; it has often been 

 tried on canvas with as 

 little success as with 

 If an artist was desired to paint the 

 most perfect animal in the shape of a quadruped, 

 it would be not a fox, but the fox, for they are 

 all so nearly alike in point of symmetry ; and, on 

 examination, it will be found that no animal has 

 so much muscle in proportion to its size, and the 

 bone, hke that of a thorough-bred horse, is like 

 ivory : in point of strength of loins, nothing can 

 exceed it. It is only necessary to notice the width 

 of frame behind the shoulders, which gives so 

 much space for the lungs, and which accounts for 



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