200 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



A FOX ONCE LIVED IN A CLEARING 



or the woods adjoining it, back of a little farm- 

 house, on the edge of the trout brook which runs 

 from Big Tink Pond to the river. Every day for 

 "sport or play" this fox would come out in the 

 clearing and bark at "Jip, 5 ' the farmer's dog. Jip 

 was a mongrel, principally black-and-tan and the 

 rest dog. 



JIP COULD KILL A RATTLESNAKE 



with safety and dispatch ; he knew all the wiles of 

 the woodchuck and just how to get between this 

 rodent and its hole; he would tree partridges for 

 his master, was an excellent coon dog, and death 

 on squirrels and chipmunks, but the fox had no 

 fear of Jip. All summer long this play went on. 

 About the same time each day the fox would dare 

 Jip out and each day after having fun with the 

 dog, would leave the chagrined and bewildered 

 canine barking up some tree which a fox could not 

 climb, or slinking back with its tail between its legs 

 in conscious defeat to the house. One day, how- 

 ever, the fox made a fatal mistake. Jimmy, the 

 farmer's boy took Jip along with him to hunt 

 snakes, while he (the boy) cut brush. At the 

 usual time the fox appeared and gave his challenge 

 to the farm-house dog. The fox did not look be- 

 hind him or he might have escaped, for this time 

 Jip was right back of him and Reynard had but 

 just finished his third bark when 



