106 The Fox 



was to be seen of the dog. Toward evening he 

 returned home. Knowing the cunning of foxes, and 

 believing that they can reason in a general way, I was 

 curious to learn more about them. Accordingly on 

 the third day succeeding the incident of the saga- 

 cious female fox, I led the hound near the den and 

 put him upon her trail. As far as I could judge, 

 they passed over the same course as before; the fox 

 appearing after about the same lapse of time, taking 

 up her station near the den, where she remained for 

 a short time and then disappeared. I went home in 

 about an hour, and the hound was not heard again that 

 day; but in the morning he was resting on the door- 

 mat, apparently as happy as though an old fox had 

 not fooled him. 



This, with other data, furnished me material for 

 serious thought in regard to this foxy family. Having 

 satisfied myself sufficiently, as I believed, to warrant 

 conclusions, I once more repeated the experiment with 

 the hound and the female fox, with practically identi- 

 cal results. 



From these experiments it seems reasonable to 

 believe that, while the young are in the burrow and 

 unable to care for themselves, it is the business of 

 the male fox to keep dogs away from the den by 

 leading them on "straightaways." I am led firmly 



