s,. 



CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



exceedingly cunning and patient, cleanly, and retired. Whilst young, they are full of vivacity and 



ulue-ss. Their resources of instinct to escape detection or an Bnemy are numerous, never trustii)g 

 t.. their courage until they are exhausted, and then defending themselves to the last gasp against dogs, 

 but mutUBM daoemng mankind by simulating death, depositing their prey under ground, and in 

 clitr.-r.-ut places, :in>l not attacking poultry under any circumstances whilst kept chained. 



As the dusk of evening advances, the fox generally steals from his burrow, with noiseless stops, to 

 prowl about for pivy. With senses of smell and hearing extremely keen, he listens and sniffs the 

 breeze. Alive to every sound and odour, his eyes gleam, as he creeps along in a crouching attitude. 

 Stealthy in all his movements, he surprises the rabbit gamboling near its burrow, the hare on her 

 form, and the poultry on their perch. He slaughters all he can, and buries the overplus in the earth, 

 for future exigency. Field-mice, frogs, weasels, and even insects, are devoured in times of scarcity. 

 The fo\ \ isits the vim-yards of the Continent, being partial, like the jackal, to ripe grapes. The voice 

 of the fox is a sort of yelp, which, however, it never exerts when creeping about, or watching the 

 movements of its prey. 



Solitarv in his habits, the fox dwells alone in a burrow, which he has either made or usurped. It 

 is generally in some secluded situation, not readily discovered, and in the neighbourhood of farms, a 

 rabbit-warren, or preserves of game. 



The speed of the fox and his powers of endurance have recommended him in our country to lovers 

 of the chase, for whose gratification the breed is preserved. 



As Bloom lield says : 



" In earliest hours of dark, unhooded morn, 

 Ere yet one rosy cloud bespeaks the dawn, 

 While far abroad the fox pursues his prey, 

 He's doomed to risk the perils of the day, 

 From his stronghold blocked out, perhaps to bleed, 

 Or owe his life to fortune and to speed. 

 For now the pack, impatient, rushing on, 

 Range through the darkest coverts one by one, 



Trace even' spot; while down each noble glade 

 That guides the eye beneath a changeful shade, 

 The loitering sportsman feels the instinctive flame, 

 And checks his steed to mark the springing game. 

 'Midst intersecting cuts and winding ways 

 The huntsman cheers his dogs, and, anxious, strays 

 Where every narrow rising, even shorn, 

 Gives back the echo of his mellow horn." 



And if that echo has caught the ear of Oudrey's fox (an engraving of which we give), no wonder he is 

 -.tartled I" 



The bin-rowing species, when hunted, make a direct effort to gain the earth, and, if this be stopped, 

 i hey make a circuit and then return to the same, or to a second outlet; but, when convinced their 

 home is closed up, they start off for some distant cover with great velocity, leaving a strong scent. 

 Hounds hunt them with singular pleasure, and are often tried to the utmost before they can defeat 

 the wiles of their prey. In this respect the English foxes appear to have educated themselves far 

 above the continental, where, not being pursued in a similar manner, their sagacity and vigour of 

 limb are lew exercised Singly, they are often more than a match for all the sagacity of twenty or 

 thirty dogs, and a number of other animals that run after them. 



Liberty to the fox is dearer than life or limb. If the leg is caught in a trap, there are well- 

 anthentieated instances of the animals freeing themselves by biting oil' the confined, and it may 

 be bn .l.cn, member. A correspondent of Mr. Bell, for example, thus wrote : "T remember once, 

 when out hunting, the hounds found a fox who did not leave the cover, but kept running from one 

 pail of it to another. J list us a hound was about to seize him, he jumped over the dog, and thus saved 

 himself. This tedious sport was kept up for a long time, till Reynard, being thoroughly tired of so many 

 leaps and so many em-mies, at last, fell a prey to them. The huntsman, on taking him up, found that 

 In- had lost one of his fore legs. The cover being entirely of fur/.e, and not large, I could see on all 

 of him during the hunt, and was much pleased with the many elegant and (puck leaps which the 

 poor tliree-li-._'g.-il fox made to save himself from destruction." 



l'a\e I u known to run before the hounds fifty miles at a stretch. When hard pressed, 



the animals neither lone their sell' possession nor their courage: they resort to every expedient that 

 cunning ,-iiu dictate t,, buttle the hounds or elude their search, and, if all fail, the fox dies, defending 

 himself to the last, and without uttering a cry. 



!. when the. hounds have killed their fox, for the huntsman to dismount and get in among 



