52 ANIMALS OF THE 



hunts him with peculiar acrimony ; the wolf is 

 still a greater and more necessitous enemy, who 

 pursues him to his very retreat. Some pretend 

 to say, that, to keejp the wolf away, the fox lays 

 at the mouth of its kennel a certain herb, to which 

 the wolf has a particular aversion, This, which 

 no doubt is a fable, at least shows that these two 

 animals are as much enemies to each other as to 

 all the rest of animated nature. But the fox is 

 not hunted by quadrupeds alone ; for the birds, 

 who know him for their mortal enemy, attend 

 him in his excursions, and give each other warn- 

 ing of their approaching danger. The daw, the 

 magpie, and the blackbird, conduct him along, 

 perching on the hedges as he creeps below, and, 

 with their cries and notes of hostility, apprize all 

 other animals to beware j a caution which they 

 perfectly understand, and put into practice. The 

 hunters themselves are often informed by the 

 birds of the place of his retreat, and set the dogs 

 into those thickets where they see them particu- 

 larly noisy and querulous. So that it is the fate 

 of this petty plunderer to be detested by every 

 rank of animals ; all the weaker classes shun, and 

 all the stronger pursue him. 



The fox, of all wild animals, is most subject to 

 the influence of climate ; and there are found as 

 many varieties in this kind almost as in any of 

 the domestic animals.* The generality of foxes, 

 as is well known, are redj but there are some, 

 though not in England, of a greyish cast j and 



* Buffon, Renard. 



