255 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



around the sleeping animal. But this bushy tail is a disadvantage, if it 

 becomes bedraggled and heavy with snow and sleet, when the hounds are 

 giving close chase to its owner. The silver fox and the black fox are the 

 same species as the red fox. 



The fox is an inveterate hunter of the animals of the field; meadow 

 mice, rabbits, woodchucks, frogs, snakes and grasshoppers, are all 

 acceptable food; he is also destructive of birds. His fondness for the 

 latter has given him a bad reputation with the farmer because of his 

 attacks on poultry. Not only will he raid hen-roosts if he can force 

 entrance, but he catches many fowls in the summer when they are wander- 

 ing through the fields. The way he carries the heavy burden of his 

 larger prey shows his cleverness: He slings a hen or a goose over his 

 shoulders, keeping the head in his mouth to steady the burden. Mr. 

 Cram says, in American Animals: 



"Yet, although the farmer and the fox are such inveterate enemies, 

 they manage to benefit each other in a great many ways quite uninten- 

 tionally. The fox destroys numberless field mice and woodchucks for the 

 farmer and in return the farmer supplies him with poultry, and builds 

 convenient bridges over streams and wet places, which the fox crosses 

 oftener than the farmer, for he is as sensitive as a cat about getting his 

 feet wet. On the whole, I am inclined to believe that the fox gets the 

 best part of the exchange, for, while the farmer shoots at him on every 

 occasion, and hunts him with dogs in the winter, he has cleared the land 

 of wolves and panthers, so that foxes are probably safer than before any 

 land was ploughed." 



The bark of the fox is a high, sharp yelp, more like the bark of the 

 coyote than of the dog. There is no doubt a considerable range of 

 meaning in the fox's language, of which we are ignorant. He growls 

 when angry, and when pleased he smiles like a dog and wags his beautiful 

 tail. 



Many are the wiles of the fox to head off dogs following his track: he 



often retraces his own 

 steps for a few yards 

 and then makes a long 

 sidewise jump ; the 

 dogs go on, up to the 

 end of the trail 

 pocket, and try in 

 vain to get the scent 

 from that point. 

 Sometimes he walks 

 along the top rails of 

 fences or takes the 

 high and dry ridges 

 where the scent will 

 not remain; he often 

 follows roads and 

 beaten paths and also 

 goes around and 

 around in the midst 

 of a herd of cattle, 

 so that his scent is 

 Red Fox. hidden; he crosses 



