INTRODUCTION OF THE RED FOX. 179 



postmaster-general ; from him I learn that he frequently 

 heard his father speak on this subject, and that he has 

 often visited the spot where the first English or red foxes 

 were released. From my own personal experience I can 

 state a circumstance corroborative of the fact, that with 

 the entree of the red fox into any section of country 

 the grey species either migrates or perishes. Some years 

 since I lived in a hilly portion of Southern Illinois. On 

 my arrival the little grey foxes were so numerous that with 

 a moderate pack of hounds two or three could be killed 

 daily. I had not been there over a year when, to my 

 surprise, I jumped up a noble specimen of the red, while 

 deer-shooting. From that day the grey commenced to 

 diminish, and I am informed by reliable authority that at 

 the present time not a single representative of the smaller 

 breed is to be found in that district. Audubon, an 

 authority on whom generally the greatest reliance can be 

 placed, regards the black and red fox as simple varieties of 

 the same species. Doubtless he never heard of the red 

 fox being a foreigner, or he would probably have agreed 

 in the decision I have come to knowing the truth of the 

 red fox'a introduction that the black and red fox are 

 entitled to be regarded as representatives of different 

 species. Nor has the red fox belied his ancestry or 

 deteriorated by his emigration. The keen and persevering 

 foxhunters of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Carolina, and 

 Georgia, give him the credit of being the most lasting 

 and difficult animal to run down that the forests pro- 

 duce. From the natural differences between England and 

 America, fox-hunting is not only a very dissimilarly- 



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