680 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



they follow the example of other species of foxes and 

 take their naps in the open air, sheltered from sun, wind, 

 and observation, among the bushes. 



The vixen may have as many as five cubs at a birth, 

 and these she rears in some hollow trunk, on a nest 

 composed of dry leaves and other soft materials of the 

 woods. When able to shift for themselves, they are 

 taught in ways that are foxy by their maternal parent; 

 but after a very little while, they are compelled to make 

 their own living and rake their own chances in life. 



Years ago, old General Buford, of Kentucky, owned 

 an elegant pack of fox-hounds, and there is a good story 

 told about one of his fox hunts. This gives such an 

 accurate account of some of the habits of the gray fox, 



and Bourbon counties, between which there was much 

 good-natured rivalry, a young nephew of the General 

 thought he would settle for good and all the mystery 

 of the cunning, old gray's disappearance. From the un- 

 usually bold depredations, likewise from the various kinds 

 of feathers around and about the cliff that had been 

 plucked from the domestic poultry, it was pretty certain 

 she had a litter of cubs somewhere near. So, on this 

 day of the big hunt, Reggie Buford was on hand, con- 

 cealed near the big oak and cliff, to solve the mystery. 

 Promptly, on time, the packs started old "White-tail," 

 for thus she was known because of a small white tuft 

 of hair at the tip of her brush. She took the usual 

 course, and gave the visiting and local packs a good run. 



OUR GRAY FOX IS A WONDERFULLY HANDSOME ANIMAL AND FULL OF SPIRIT 



Figure 10. Wc might almost^ imagine that this beautiful and intelligent species had grown gray in studying and comprehending the ways of men. It 

 is hunted most unmercifully in all parts of the country, and the five here shown very well exhibit the characters of this species of fox. 



that I take pleasure in repeating a few paragraphs of it. 

 There was a gray fox which the General's pack invari- 

 ably started in a ravine about three miles from the 

 plantation-house where he resided. "This gray would 

 run as long as it cared to, and then would disappear 

 very near the place where it started and close to a high 

 limestone cliff, near which there was a huge burr oak 

 tree. The General was convinced that somehow this tree 

 had something to do with the invariable disappearance of 

 this cunning gray fox ; but just how, or in what manner, 

 he could not discern. The oak was certainly fifteen if 

 not twenty feet from the cliff, near which the gray made 

 her last appearance in a day's run. 



"One day when there was about to be a field-day 

 among the fox-hunting gentry of Woodford, Fayette, 



Then, thinking she had done enough to vindicate the 

 hospitable spirit of sport in her native country, she 

 started for her usual point of disappearance. Directly, 

 Reggie Buford saw her coming in easy lope, swinging 

 her tail from side to side, with the pack at least a third 

 of a mile behind. She mounted the limestone cliff, and, 

 stooping to give herself the necessary impetus, leaped 

 for the body of the great burr-oak tree. She caught it 

 just below the nethermost limbs, and nimbly climbed up 

 the shaggy trunk to a distance of about sixty feet from 

 the ground; there she entered a hole just large enough 

 to admit her. Young Buford went home and told his 

 uncle what he had seen. 



" 'That tree's hollow,' ejaculated the General, T am 

 sure of it. Tom, tomorrow morning you and Mose take 



