20 FOX-HUNTING IN NEW ENGLAND 



that a silver fox-skin was equal in value to forty 

 beaver-skins, and the gift of one was considered 

 a sacred pledge. One often hears of silver foxes 

 being seen, but, like the big fish so often lost by 

 anglers, they almost invariably get away. 



Foxes are less rare in settled countries and on 

 the borders of civilization than in the wilderness, 

 for, though they find no fewer enemies, they find 

 more abundant food hi the open fields than in 

 the forests. The common field mouse is a favor- 

 ite hi their bill-of-fare; and the farmer's lambs 

 and the goodwife's geese and turkeys never come 

 amiss therein. These are all more easily got than 

 hares or grouse. In justice to Reynard it must be 

 said, however, that when mice are plenty lambs 

 and poultry are seldom molested. In times of 

 scarcity, he takes kindly to beech-nuts in the 

 fall, and fills himself with grasshoppers and such 

 small deer in the summer. When these fail why, 

 what would you? An honest fox must live. 



When not running before the hounds, he is 

 seldom seen in daytime, except it may be by 

 some early riser whose sharp eye discerns him in 

 the dim dawn, moving hi meadow or pasture, or 

 picking his stealthy way across lots to his home 

 woods. In these woods he spends his days, sleep- 

 ing or prowling slyly about in quest of some fool- 

 ish hare or grouse. Going into the woods without 

 a dog you might pass within a few yards of him 



