298 THE MOUNTAIN. 



the richest and rarest sport may be enjoyed by those who 

 love the excitement of that regal indulgence, the fox-hunt. 



The hunt being a " note in the gamut of ambition," and in- 

 volving the extreme physical tension and culminating forces 

 of four of the most wonderful animals of the earth, the 

 man, the horse, the dog, and his brother the fox, has ever 

 been the grand recreation of monarchs and princely men, 

 and its achievements recorded as the true and only absolute 

 criterion of the actual power of each. In this aspect, the 

 "fox-hunt" ceases to be a vulgar and noisy nuisance, (as 

 supposed by the ignorant and uninitiated !) engaging the 

 lowest form of man and animal, and becomes a great 

 dynamic revelation, involving the spiritual and physical 

 capabilities of four of the highest organisms of the world. 



Dull must be the ear to which the voice of the hound in 

 the freshness of the morning, with all nature flashing in the 

 brilliancy of an autumn sunrise, is not music, and the 

 " huntsman's horn," the " mellow, mellow horn," has nothing 

 of that harmony which is the spirit and joy of life, existing 

 in man as well as every object that surrounds him, and in 

 another form " glitters in the wave, the rainbow, the light- 

 ning, and the star." The red fox's range, Atlantic States 

 to Missouri, Pennsylvania to Canada and south. 



YULPES Yirginianus, (Rich.) gray fox. This species does 

 not abound, although it is found on the mountain. It is 

 alleged by hunters that the gray and red fox will not inhabit 

 the same woods, from some ancient spirit of antagonism. 

 The probable cause is, that the gray fox, possessing neither 

 the swiftness, wind, or lung, (foot and bottom, as the sports- 

 men say !) nor the sharpness, cunning, and intellect of the 

 red fox, leaves the field from a sense of inequality in compe- 

 tition for game, notwithstanding De Kay's assertion that " it 

 is bolder and more astute than the red fox." 



The light, swift, well-trained fox-hound will capture the 

 gray fox often in an hour or two, while eight, twelve, or 

 twenty-four agonizing hours of effort on the part of the best 

 pack is required to fairly beat the red fox, ungorged and in 



