178 PEAIKIE AND FOREST. 



species from either of the afore-mentioned. My reason I 

 will state. 



The black fox has been known in North America since 

 the first settlement of the country. We hear of one of the 

 Indian chiefs presenting some of the earliest settlers with 

 a skin of this species, as a mark of the high estimation 

 placed on the white man's friendship. Not so with the 

 red fox of at least the eastern portion of the North 

 American continent. In searching over some old works 

 among the admirable writings on natural history 

 emanating from the pen of Postmaster-General Skinner, 

 now dead many years, we learn that the red fox was intro- 

 duced into the State of Maryland from England con- 

 siderably over one hundred years ago. The importer was 

 no other than the gallant and loyal old soldier, Colonel 

 Guy Carlton, whose name so conspicuously appears 

 associated in all the efforts made by the royal troops to 

 suppress the revolution. This noble veteran was doubtless 

 a hard-riding and enthusiastic fox-hunter. The little grey 

 fox indigenous to the country did not suit his exalted 

 ideas from having enjoyed the noble sport at home, and 

 to remedy the evil he went to the trouble, and doubtless, 

 in those days, great expense, to import the larger, gamer, 

 and more lasting animal. The result was the success he 

 so eminently deserved. The first arrivals were turned 

 down in Maryland, not far from Baltimore. From there 

 they have gradually extended north, south, and west, 

 marking their advent by the gradual annihilation of the 

 grey species. I have had the pleasure for some years of 

 enjoying the friendship of Colonel Skinner, son of the old 



