THE FOX. 9 



much so that If you had not seen the animal 

 yourself, and known there was only one, you 

 might easily have imagined that half a dozen 

 foxes were on foot ! 



To some people all foxes seem alike ; they 

 only realise that they are foxes, though really 

 many are as different as one hound in a pack is 

 from another, and every fox has some slight 

 peculiarity by which he can be at once distin- 

 guished, and which those who are accustomed 

 to view them take in at a glance. Every 

 whipper-in should not only be able to do 

 this, but do it, and then how often would the 

 fatal mistake, which one so frequently sees out 

 hunting, of halloaing hounds on to a fresh fox, 

 be avoided ! 



To distinguish the '' sex" at sight, especially 

 at a distance, is not quite so easy, and the 

 most observant persons may at times be 

 deceived. Vixens have their peculiarities, some 

 of them rather difficult to describe, though easy 

 to notice ; they are smaller, carry their brushes 

 less jauntily, and hold their heads higher when 

 cantering along, much finer in the neck, and 

 narrower across the forehead and between the 

 ears than the dog, and when they stand and 



