226 COMMON FOX. 



quity for the cunning and ingenuity which it manifests, 

 whether in obtaining food or in eluding pursuit. The 

 general expression of its features, the obliquity and 

 quickness of the eye, the sharp, shrewd-looking muzzle, 

 and the erect ears, afford the most unequivocal indica- 

 tions of that mingled acuteness and fraud which have 

 long rendered it a byword and a proverb ; for it is well 

 known that this character of its physiognomy is not 

 falsified by the animal's real propensities and habits. 



The Fox spends much of his time in burrows ; either 

 excavating them for himself, or seizing upon and appro- 

 priating the preoccupied habitations of some other fos- 

 sorial animal, as the Badger or the Rabbit. In this 

 retreat, which in sportsman's language is called its earth, 

 it remains concealed during the day, and comes abroad 

 only in the night in search of its food. Its instinctive 

 cunning leads it soon to suspect the wiles of its enemies ; 

 and it will in a very short time ascertain the design of 

 a trap or a gin, though concealed with the utmost care. 

 It is credibly stated by a French writer, that a Fox has 

 been known to remain within its retreat without food 

 for fifteen days, rather than risk the danger of falling 

 into the traps, which its sagacity had ascertained to be 

 set around it. 



It does not, however, by any means live exclusively in 

 burrows, but, as every lover of the hunt is well aware, 

 is commonly found in woods, and affects certain covers 

 in which to repose during the day, in preference to 

 others where the lying, as it is termed, is not so good. 

 Woods having a northern aspect are said to be unfavour- 

 able for Foxes. But the Fox does not altogether dis- 

 dain the open country, being often found lying upon 

 stubble-cocks, or on a grassy hedge -bank, from which 

 places it is sometimes roused by the courser, the mettle 



