222 FAMILY CANID^E; COMMON AND ARCTIC pox. 



early age, it is never properly domesticated ; and adults, when 

 placed in confinement, show great ferocity and soon die. It is 



FIG. 108. COMMON Fox. 



to its power of endurance and its great speed, as well as to the 

 cunning which dictates various expedients for escape, that the 

 chase of this animal owes its exciting character ; and were it 

 not for the artificial preservation of the race, for the purpose of 

 the sportsman, it would long since have been extirpated from this 



FIG: 109 ARCTIC Fox. 



country. Among the most common of its expedients for escape, 

 is feigning death ; which is done by several other animals 



