ALAVAYS THE SAME. 27.5 



food for his cubs." The fox, though it may be domes- 

 ticated when taken very young, never becomes thoroughly 

 reclaimed. Its natural propensities cannot be com- 

 l^letely subdued ; and Shakspeare judges rightly when 

 he says of his character, that the foxes " so tame, so 

 cherished, and locked up, will have a wild trick of his 

 ancestors."' When the fox is hunted by hounds, if he 

 sees at a distance a flock of sheep he is almost sure 

 to take shelter among them, as well as to destroy his 

 scented track, and to effect this last they have some- 

 times been seen to run along the top of a thick and 

 close hedge. Schreber, in liis history of quadrupeds, 

 says — "The smell of a fox is strong and unpleasant, 

 but on the tail is a spot from which proceeds a vio- 

 laceous scent." The character of the fox never changes : 

 in whatever part of the globe he is found he displays 

 the same adroitness and cunning, whether he subsists 

 on fish, flesh, or fowl, but his greatest ravages are amongst 

 game and domestic poultry ; and woe unto the unfortu- 

 nate inhabitants of the poultry yard into which he 

 has contrived to make his entry, for he appears to take 

 as much delight in the slaughter of all within his power 

 as poachers would receive in a successful night's pre- 

 datory expedition, and on these occasions he has been 

 found obliged to leave many of his victims behind. 

 Many of the fowls which he carries off he bui'ies care- 

 fully under ground, an instance of which was the cock 

 pheasant which I found quite fresh buried in a ploughed 

 field, Avhich had a small bit of the tail sticking out. 

 Reynard possesses one good quality in Scotland, — he is 

 of essential service in the destruction of the moor mouse, 

 which sometimes is bred in such immense multitudes as 

 to destroy the vegetation of the moors, to the great loss 



