192 noNEEB life; or, 



black or silver-grey fox. So jealously do they avoid 

 the haunts of man, that but little can be learned of - 

 its habits. Indeed, the black fox is so shy as well 80 

 rare, that its very existence is by some regarded as 

 fabulous, and it undoubtedly forms the foundation 

 for many a mystic tale which is recounted in awe- 

 struck tones by the settler's children as they gather 

 of a winter evening around the blazing hearth of 

 their log-cabin. I never succeeded in running one 

 down with hounds in the manner that red ones are 

 caught. One which I was once after with hounds 

 ran up a leaning tree and I shot it, but this was the 

 only case in which I was successful with dogs. 



