288 



THE STORY OF THE FOX. 



durance. It is but a sorry pack which fails to kill or tree a gray fox in 

 an hour's run. The young of the gray fox closely resemble small blackish 

 puppies; those of the red fox are distinctly fox-like from the hour of their 

 birth. 



Many tales are related of the fox's cunning when pursued, such as 

 driving another fox out of its home, and forcing it to substitute itself as 

 the chase; diving into a heap of manure, so that the dogs could not perceive 

 its scent; jumping over a wall, running a little way, coming back again, 

 and lying under the wall until all the dogs had passed, and then leaping 



RED FOXES IN WINTER. 



a second time over the same place where it had passed before, and making 

 off on its old track. 



On the banks of the Kentucky River rise huge rocky bluffs, many 

 feet in height. A fox that lived near this river was constantly hunted, and 

 as regularly lost over the bluff. Now, nothing short of wings would have 

 enabled the animal to escape with life down a perpendicular cliff. At last 

 I determined to discover the means by which the animal baffled all of us, 

 and I concealed myself near the bluff. 



