290 THE STORY OF THE FOX. 



the rock, and then, when all the dogs were at the edge of the cliff, he 

 walked out at his leisure by the other entrance. 



The fox is a native of almost every quarter of the globe; it is of so 

 wild and savage a nature, that it is impossible fully to tame him. He is 

 esteemed the most sagacious and crafty of all the beasts of prey. The 

 former quality he shows in his mode of providing for himself an asylum, 

 where he retires from pressing dangers, dwells, and brings up his young; 

 and his craftiness is discovered by his schemes to catch lambs, geese, hens, 

 all kinds of small birds, rabbits and field mice. 



When it is possible for him conveniently to do so, the fox forms his 

 burrow near the border of a wood, in the neighborhood of -some farm or 

 village. He there listens to the crowing of the cocks, and the cries of the 

 poultry. He scents them at a distance; he chooses his time with judgment; 

 he conceals his road, as well as his design; he slips forward with caution, 

 sometimes even trailing his body; and seldom makes a fruitless expedition. 

 If he can leap the wall, or creep in underneath, he ravages the barn-yard, 

 puts all to death, and retires softly with his prey; which he either hides 

 under the adjacent herbage, or carries off to his kennel. 



With regard to the caution displayed by foxes in taking a bait, T once 

 had the good fortune of observing, on a winter evening, a fox which 

 for many preceding days had been allured with loop baits, and as often 

 as it ate one it sat comfortably down, wagging his brush. The nearer it 

 approached the trap, the longer did it hesitate to take the baits, and the 

 oftener did it make the tour round the catching-place. When arrived near 

 the trap, it squatted down, and eyed the bait for ten iiiinutes at least; 

 whereon it ran three or four times round the trap, then it stretched out 

 cue oi£ its fore-pa,ws after the bait, but did not touch it; again a pause, 

 during which the fox stared immovably at the bait. At last, as if in 

 despair, the animal made a rush, and was caught by the neck. 



The kit fox is the smallest and prettiest of North American foxes. It 

 lives in an open, treeless district and makes its burrow in the ground. The 

 back and tail are dark gray and the under parts white. 



The Arctic fox, which is found all over the Arctic region, differs from 

 all other members of the fox family, particularly in its change of dress 

 from summer to winter. In summer it is bluish gray on the back, and 

 white beneath. In the winter its coat turns to a pure wdiite, so that it 

 can scarcely be distinguished from its snowy surroundings. In the long 

 Arctic nights the hunter constantly hears its yapping bark. In the sum- 



