The Fox. Ill 



hounds with each, I am prqDared to adopt his 

 views on the subject in preference to theirs, espe- 

 cially in view of the fact that but comparatively 

 few Englishmen have ever hunted the American 

 fox upon his native heath. 



While the strategy and finesse constantly ex- 

 hibited by the fox hold our admiration and 

 prompt us to credit him with a high order of rea- 

 soning and intelligence, I have always regarded 

 "with a grain of salt" the story of the fox 

 troubled with fleas, which slowly waded out into 

 the water, gradually immersing all parts of his 

 body until nothing but the tip of his tail remained 

 above, to which point all the fleas had assembled, 

 and then with a shake of his tail consigned them 

 to a watery grave. Also the story of the fox 

 that stole the hunter's decoy duck and used it in 

 luring wild ducks to his meshes, I have always 

 coupled with the other. They should justly be in 

 a class to themselves. 



I have known hunters to credit foxes with 

 avoiding corn fields and plowed ground on ac- 

 count of the accumulated weight of mud on their 

 drooping tails, and most any Southern darky who 

 hunts will tell you, with a very straight face, that 

 when a fox's tail gets so weighted he will at once 

 swim a creek or river to wash it out, and that he 

 will invariably swim a river full of alligators, 

 knowing the fondness of the alligator for a hound 

 will prevent the latter from following him. 

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