DELALANDE'S FOX 



little chum, and what he said to that farmer had 

 better not be repeated. 



This species of fox was first brought to notice 

 by a French traveller of the name of Delalande, 

 and was named Delalande's Fox in consequence. 

 It is nocturnal, but occasionally ventures forth by 

 day in the more secluded parts of the country. So 

 great is its fear of man that when living in his vicinity 

 it is strictly nocturnal. It is an innocent, inoffen- 

 sive animal, and there are no authenticated instances 

 of it ever having attacked domestic animals. It is 

 a creature which certainly should be protected, for 

 the reason that it destroys rats, mice, and noxious 

 insects. In those districts where the termite or 

 " White Ant " abounds it subsists almost, if not 

 entirely, upon these insects. However, whether an 

 animal is useful or not does not seem to weigh in 

 the slightest with many people, whose sole idea of 

 the lower animals is that they furnish a legitimate 

 means of gratifying a destructive animal instinct 

 which is inherited from our barbarian ancestors. 

 The native races in South Africa hunt and kill the 

 animals and birds of the country indiscriminately, 

 and unless this senseless slaughter is checked, num- 

 bers of birds and animals which are fairly common 

 to-day will, within the next fifty years, be either 

 extremely rare, or actually extinct in South 

 Africa. 



Delalande's Fox, for instance, which is so good 

 a friend to man in a variety of ways, is relentlessly 

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