128 THE FOX 



The dog, it is true, has lifted tail-wagging to a 

 higher plane by using it as an expression of affection. 

 The tail of the terrier lying at my feet wags when his 

 dinner is coming, waves frantically as he sees prepa- 

 rations being made for a walk, but it beats the ground 

 only in response to the voice of the person he loves 

 best. Even here the dog does not stand alone, 

 though in his case the affection for persons and 

 animals outside his own race is more powerful as a 

 moving or restraining influence than with the wolf 

 or the fox. In the case of these last, and especially 

 with the fox, the affection for a master is apt to be 

 swept away in a moment by the rising tide of 

 ancestral habits and instincts. The same thing hap- 

 pens with the dog, but more seldom ; and even with 

 man there are moments when the primeval animal 

 is stronger than the continued influence of civilisa- 

 tion and affection. 



To return to our tame foxes. The fox is not in- 

 capable of affection, but he never quite gains con- 

 fidence in man as the dog does ; which is not 

 wonderful, considering the age-long enmity between 

 the two. But there is one curious circumstance 

 about tame foxes, and indeed any other domesticated 

 wild animals : that although they never lose their dis- 

 trust of man, even if they learn to have confidence in 



