40S THE PHILOSOPHY 



where they were brought forth, feldom remove to a great 

 diftance from it, but return to their form ; and, when chaf- 

 ed two days fucceflively, on the fecond day they perform the 

 fame doubUngs they had pra<ftifed the day before. When 

 hares run ftraight out to a great diftance, it is a proof that 

 they are ftrangers. Male hares, efpecially during the moft 

 remarkable period of rutting, which is in the months of Jan- 

 uary, February, and March, fometimes perform jonrnies of 

 feveral miles in queft of mates ; but, as foon as they are 

 ftarted by dogs, they fly back to the place of their nativity. 

 ^ I have feen a hare,' Fouilloux remarks, ' fo fagacious, that, 



< after hearing the hunter's horn, he ftarted from his form, 



* and, though at the diftance of a quarter of a league, went 



< to fwim in a pool, and lay down on the rufhes in the mid- 



< die of it, without being chafed by the dogs. I have feen a hare 



< after running two hours before the dogs, pufti another from 

 « his feat, and take pofleflion of it. 1 have feen others fwim 



* over two or three ponds, the narroweft of which was eighty 

 « paces broad. I have feen others, after a two hours chace, 

 « run into a fheep-fold and lie down among them. I have 



* feen others, when hard puflied, run in among a flock of 



< fheep, and would not leave them. I have feen others, af- 



< ter hearing the noife of the hounds, conceal themfelves in the 

 « earth. I have feen others run up one flde of a hedge and 

 « return by the other, when there was nothing elfe between 

 « them and the dogs. I have feen others, after running half 

 « an hour, mount an old wall, fix feet high, and clap down 



< in a hole covered with ivy. Laftly, I have feen others 



< fwim over a river, of about eighty paces broad, oftener 

 ^ than twice, in the length of two hundred paces.' 



The fox has, in all ages and nations, been celebrated for 

 craftinefs and addrefs. Acute aiid circumfpedt, fagacious 

 and prudent, he diverfifies his condu£V, and always referves 

 fome art for unforefeen accidents. Though nimbler than 



