As the peculiar sign of his species, the gray fox adds to the 

 bushy appearance of fox tails in general a contribution of his own, 

 for a ridge of coarse long hairs grow out in a perfectly erect posi- 

 tion from the upper surface of this appendage, giving it an unusually 

 bristly effect. At the root of the tail, as is the case with all but the 

 Arctic members of the family, are glands containing a secretion 

 which emits a strong and unpleasant odor, very penetrating and 

 lasting. This is the means by which hounds are enabled to keep the 

 trail of a fox long after he has disappeared from view and the 

 fox himself, seeming to realize this, uses every trick he knows to 

 break the line of scent and so throw his pursuers off his track. 

 Other animals, especially cats and horses, have shown unmistakably 

 their dislike for this smell by their unwillingness to enter enclosures 

 tainted with it. 



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