CHAPTER VII 



THE FOX 



T is scarcely possible to 

 describe, either with the 

 pencil or the pen, the 

 beauty and powers of 

 this extraordinary ani- 

 mal ; it has often been 

 tried on canvas with as 

 Httle success as with 

 If an artist was desired to paint the most 

 perfect animal in the shape of a quadruped, it 

 would be not a fox, but the fox, for they are all so 

 nearly ahke in point of symmetry ; and, on exam- 

 ination, it will be found that no animal has so 

 much muscle in proportion to its size, and the 

 bone, hke that of a thorough-bred horse, is like 

 ivory : in point of strength of loins, nothing can 

 exceed it. It is only necessary to notice the width 



the pen. 



