FOXES AND WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THEM 



675 



Foxes were very common in the neighborhood of the 

 writer's home in New Canaan, Connecticut, where a 

 great deal of poultry was kept. They frequently raided 

 the hen-roosts, and that with marked success. One old 

 fox in particular lived with his family in a deep burrow 

 in the middle of a meadow about a quarter of a mile 

 from the barn ; he had a special predilection for ducks, 

 of which a good many were kept, and he seemed to know 

 just when to come for them. At night, most of the ducks 

 came home and remained in the big barn-yard, enclosed 

 by a solid, high board-fence, where they thought them- 

 selves perfectly safe from any prowling marauder that 

 might take it into his head to make a meal of one or 

 more of them. In this, however, they were mistaken ; 



that had attracted the writer's attention. When they 

 caught sight of him they were off at a great pace. Again 

 the writer failed to make out how the fox had managed 

 to enter the barnyard; but in any event he managed it, 

 and the writer is convinced that the vixen stood outside 

 on guard as he performed the operation. Over at the 

 burrow next morning there were scattered all about the 

 entrance brown, white, and green feathers the indis- 

 putable and aggravating evidence of the fine feast they 

 had enjoyed. 



Old Reynard has been pursued on horse and with 

 hounds in nearly every State east of the Mississippi, 

 where he is found in sufficient numbers to render his 

 hunting an object of sport. In New England and in the 



COMMON RED FOX 



Figure 3. He has unexpectedly come across a rabbit. Foxes, both old and young, are very fond of rabbits, and in the course of a year they 



capture and feed upon a great many of them. 



for, upon one very dark 'night, nine half-grown duck- 

 lings, were missing, and the tracks about the wet places 

 in the yard plainly told the story of the fox's success in 

 reaching them. How he got over the fence, or under 

 it, the writer has never been able to understand. For 

 a week he laid for him with a gun, then gave it up. 

 Several nights after that he chanced to be at the barn 

 one moonlit night, and, as luck would have it, without a 

 gun. Low, gurgling noises caught his ear, which were 

 evidently coming from a duck in deep distress ; and, al- 

 most immediately, who should come trotting across his 

 path in the moonlight but the old dog-fox, with the 

 vixen following close at his heels. He had the biggest 

 drake thrown cleverly over his shoulder, and was 

 crunching on its neck in his efforts to quiet the sounds 



northeastern section generally it is considered legitimate 

 to shoot the pursued fox at the finish, or during any 

 part of the chase ; while in Kentucky and Tennessee and 

 other southern districts, such a practice is considered 

 highly unsportsmanlike, and would subject the perpe- 

 trator to the severest criticism from every member of 

 the guild. Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless 

 true that experienced old foxes, and those that have 

 become familiar with the ways of men, horses, and 

 hounds, seem to enjoy the fun quite as much as the 

 hunters do. Frequently they have and justly so the 

 utmost confidence in their powers to elude the hunters, 

 and this they demonstrate upon numerous occasions. 

 Then an old fox in the enjoyment of good health is 

 more than a match, in a fair fight, for any average 



