How well the fox does use his wits was once brought to my 

 attention by an old trapper as he and I sat in a cabin with a front 

 window overlooking a narrow river occupied by a flock of black 

 ducks. 



"Keep your eye on that clump of brush over there," suddenly 

 whispered the old woodsman. 



Soon I saw a large red fox. Crouched, he was watching the 

 ducks hungrily. A few minutes later, he edged forward cau- 

 tiously. Tearing bits of weeds with his jaws, he set them adrift 

 in the current. The weeds floated to the ducks. Suspicious at 

 first, the web-foots soon began investigating them. 



The fox released perhaps a dozen mouthfuls of weeds during 

 the next few minutes. Thus seduced to playfulness, the ducks 

 awaited each batch expectantly. Then Reynard executed his 

 master stroke. Grabbing an extra large bunch of weed, he 

 slipped quietly into the river. Only the tip of his nose was above 

 water, and that was hidden by the weeds. 



When the submarine fox drew closer, one of the ducks, impa- 

 tient to be at the weeds, swam up to meet them. There was a 

 quick lunge, a flurry of wings, and a great splashing of water. 

 Soon Reynard, a fat duck in his mouth, was swimming back to 

 land. 



Outdoor sleepers in all weather, red foxes use dens only when 

 it is time to raise their young. The vixen then chooses a safe 

 retreat. Some are burrows made by enlarging a woodchuck hole 

 in a sheltered bank, underneath a brush pile, or in the roots of 

 a windfall tree. I've even seen abandoned threshing machines 

 and the junked bodies of automobiles converted into fox nur- 

 series. 



Few wild animals outshine the father fox in fidelity to wife 

 and young. He shares the proceeds of the hunt. A vigilant guar- 

 dian, he resorts to ruse and decoy when dogs or other enemies 

 draw too close to the nursery burrow. He now becomes an actor 

 who really knows how to ham it up when he brings the spotlight 

 to himself by cavorting, barking, and feigning injury until the 

 invader is lured to safer territory. 



Giving dogs the slip is an accomplishment at which Reynard 



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