CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. 



241 



locality. The old fox placed the goose on the ground close to the stack, and dashed into the 

 thick underwood. The bark-stripper descended the tree, took possesion of the prize, and retired 

 to mark the result. The old fox had evidently gone for the purpose of fetching the cuds, as she 

 soon appeared and conducted them to the very spot where the goose had Keen deposited. She 

 found that it was gone, and evinced the utmost degree of anxiety and alarm, hurrying about in 

 every direction. The bird could not be found, and the cubs, disappointed of their expected 

 supply of food, flew at the mother and tore her to pieces ! 



"But, however savage the young foxes may be, the most affectionate care is evinced by the 

 mother for her cubs. Often, on a fine summer evening, she will emerge from her home near an 

 open green spot; and, after looking cautiously around and attentively listening, her cubs will 

 follow her. She leads them to the open space alluded to, and they commence their playful 

 gambols in the most joyous manner possible, tumbling each other about, sometimes placing 



33» ■ 



i 



i 



FOXES AT PLAT. 



themselves in a row, and commencing the game of leap-frog like a lot of merry schoolboy- : 

 sometimes, as there is said to be one fool in all large families, they chase this unfortunate member 

 about in the roughest manner possible, as if to arouse its dormant energies, while the old fox, 

 sitting upon her haunches, marks with a parent's fondness the playfulness of her children. But, 

 on the least note of danger being heard, a low whimper from her is instantly obeyed, and they all 

 immediately disappear to their den. 



"The fox seems to possess a mingled humor and love ot mischief, almost human. When he 

 encounters a large toad, he will place both his fore-feet beneath its body, and pitch it twenty or 

 thirty feet high, repeating this operation very rapidly until the unfortunate reptile is either disabled 



i or killed. 



" Reynard, although extremely cunning and cautious, is at the same time very provident 

 When the evening twilight is spread over the earth, and the woods have assumed a deeper -loom, 

 and the notes of the feathered race, from the jay to the raven, are wholly hushed, or but faintly 



[ Vol. I.— 31 ' 



