528 



FOX. 



is sent in to him. Should his den be under a rock or 

 the roots of trees, the terrier is no match for him, and 

 it would be no very easy matter for his enemies to dig 

 him out. His stratagems and shiftings are as sur- 

 prising as they are various when the retreat to his 

 kennel is cut off, for he betakes himself to the wood* 

 and coppices of the country, and prefers the paths 

 that are most embarrassed with thorns and briars. 

 When before the hounds, he runs in a direct line, 

 and, if hard pushed, resorts to the low wet grounds, 

 as if conscious that, in such situations, the scent is 

 with more difficulty traced. He becomes obstinately 

 desperate when overtaken, and will turn on his adver- 

 sary, and defend himself to the last gasp. The 

 severest blows will not make him loose his hold ; and 

 he fights in silence until he is torn and mangled to 

 death. Horses and dogs both, particularly the former, 

 have very frequently fallen victims to the ardour of 

 the chace, which sometimes has continued for eight 

 or ten hours, almost at full speed, without the smallest 

 interruption, and for a distance of forty or fifty miles. 



The fox can be tamed, if taken when quite young, 

 but seldom entirely loses his savage nature. In- 

 stances have, however, occurred of a domesticated fox 

 showing nearly as much attachment to his master as 

 a dog. The fox's olfactory nerves, as it is well 

 known, are very acute. Like the dog and the wolf, 

 he runs his game down by the scent. On the ap- 

 proach of a storm, or preparatory to a change of 

 weather, he howls dismally. In the summer season 

 the male, and more particularly the female, is very 

 subject to cutaneous disorders ; and it is asserted 

 that, if a horse lie down on the spot previously 

 occupied by a fox, he will likewise be infected. 



Many anecdotes have been mentioned and recorded 

 of the craft of the fox, and some of them place the 

 sagacity of irrational animals in a very striking light, 

 and perhaps none more so than those in which the 

 crafty animal attempts 



" To run away from death by dying," 



or rather, by counterfeiting death. One morning 

 early, a man in the north was going to his work 

 through furze bushes on a common, and came upon 

 a fox stretched out at length under the side of one of 

 the bushes. The fox was drawn out by the tail, 

 swung right and left, and then laid on the ground, 

 but not a symptom of motion or life did he show. 

 The man, never doubting that reynard had gone the 

 way of ail foxes, and nothing loth to add a fox-skin 

 cap to the list of his personal garniture, and the brush 

 to the tale of peacocks' feathers, and other ornamental 

 trophies, over the little looking-glass that stood 

 inclined from the wall of his cottage, took the animal 

 by the tail, and swung it over the one shoulder, at 

 the same lime placing his mattock on the other, to 

 keep up the balance ; and, having done so, onward 

 he trudged to mend the high-road, for the accommo- 

 dation of those who got foxes and their brushes in 

 another way, which was his ordinary vocation. The 

 two shoulderings were not exactly paired, and so the 

 mattock began to assail the ribs of the fox in no very 

 gracious manner. The animal had counterfeited death 

 to admiration, and he did not mind being carried in 

 the manner of a dead fox (it is remarkable that dead 

 animals are usually carried with the head downward) ; 

 but, dead as he seemed, he had no inclination to un- 

 dergo that species of dissection which the point of 

 the mattock was ever and anon giving his ribs. So 



at last he gave that decisive snap, which we have de- 

 scribed as the characteristic bite of foxes, on that 

 portion of the labourer's rear which is supposed to be 

 more sensitive to all manner of inflictions than any 

 other region of the human body. The man felt that 

 something was the matter, but knew not very well 

 what ; so, throwing fox and mattock from him, he 

 turned round to face the foe, whoever he rni<rht be, 

 and, in turning, he espied his dead fox at the distance 

 of full fifty yards, making for the brake with all ima- 

 ginable speed. The man was much annoyed at his 

 adventure, and wished to conceal it ; only, he told it 

 to his fellow-labourer as a great secret, and thus, as 

 is generally the case with secrets confided in this way, 

 rendered it better worth telling than it otherwise 

 would have been. 



We shall mention one other anecdote, which came 

 within the personal knowledge of the writer of this ar- 

 ticle, because it throws some light on the mode of action 

 of the fox, as well as confirms the truth of his counter- 

 feiting death in all cases where there is a likelihood 

 that it may ensue. The parsonage of Kilmorac, in In- 

 verness-shire, is situated in a highly romantic spot. It 

 is near the brow of one of the precipices which form 

 a gorge through which the river Beauly has, in the 

 lapse of ages, cut a deep channel through a great 

 length of rock, thus emptying a lake which must at 

 one time have occupied that singularly beautiful dell 

 known by the name of the Dream of Kilmorac. The 

 northern bank of this singular valley, or rather ravine, 

 for it is something intermediate between the two, is 

 richly wooded, and much of the sloping ground is a 

 natural strawberry bed. It swarms with all those in- 

 habitants, whether of the air or of the earth, which are 

 found in warm and wooded spots of the Highlands. 

 To render the collection complete, there are eagles 

 in some of the towering rocks, near the lower part, 

 and no want of goshawks anywhere ; the hill beyond, 

 too, is well stored with grouse, and as it is near tho 

 cultivated grounds, there are common hares as well 

 as Alpine ones. Of course this is a very favourite 

 retreat for foxes ; and though the wild cats are said 

 to keep them at bay, when they attempt to assail the 

 preserve, they kennel in the margins, and infest the 

 country around. The then clergyman of Kilmorac 

 was a man of great taste, very fond of society, and 

 very hospitable, and he accordingly endeavoured to 

 provide for his numerous guests all the good things 

 which his glebe land, on field or on hill, could afford. 



A well-stocked poultry-yard is an essential requisite 

 in such cases ; but here foxes were so numerous, and 

 their covers so near, that a poultry-yard was out of 

 the question ; and it was sometimes necessary to 

 employ boys to " Hoo ! hoo ! " the fox even after the 

 parson's pullets were turned out to range the fields 

 A poultry-house was thus requisite, and the Reverend 

 Doctor prided himself not a little in having constructed 

 one which was completely fox-proof; and for a good 

 many years it had been impregnable to reynard, so 

 that the Doctor's pullets and their eggs were known 

 far and wide for their excellence, their abundance, 

 and the frankness with which they were given to 

 every one who courted the very pleasant society of 

 their owner. A frierul of ours had spent a night in 

 this romantic and hospitable abode ; and, while fresh 

 salmon from the Beauly, dressed in very delicious 

 steaks, formed one article for the breakfast-table, new- 

 laid eggs, from the strong-hold of the hens, were of 

 course to form another. Christian, the purveyor in 



