46 THE FOX 



sight. I place the senses in this order because I 

 think it is that of their importance, and we may be 

 greatly helped in understanding the mind of the fox by 

 remembering this. 



The intelligence of animals is doubtless limited, 

 but it is most effective within its bounds. The average 

 mental power of foxes is high. There is probably 

 considerably less difference in proportion between 

 the intelligence of the cleverest and the least 

 clever fox, than between a clever and a stupid 

 man. But, then, while our social system is framed 

 for the express purpose of preserving stupidity and 

 dullness, the whole tendency of life for the fox is to 

 exterminate the foolish ones. I have before noted 

 that the remarkable fact in the natural history of the 

 fox is that he has survived. Not only does the creature 

 thrive in those English counties where he is carefully 

 preserved, but he holds his own in countries where 

 he is not regarded with favour, and even where he 

 is beset by the danger of being hunted for his skin. 

 One chief reason for this survival is that the fox, 

 as a race and as an individual, learns quickly 

 and effectively by experience. That peculiar form of 

 racial memory which we label instinct, places the 

 past experience of the race at the service of the 

 individual, and starts the young fox with an equip- 



