184 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



the royal troops to suppress the Revolution. This noble 

 veteran was doubtless a hard-riding and enthusiastic fox- 

 hunter. The little gray fox indigenous to the country did 

 not suit his exalted ideas, from having enjoyed the noble 

 sport at home, and to remedy the evil he went to the trou- 

 ble, and doubtless, in those days, great expense, to import 

 the larger, gamer, and more lasting animal. The result 

 was the success he so eminently deserved. The first arri- 

 vals were turned down in Maryland, not far from Balti- 

 more. From there they have gradually extended north, 

 south, and west, marking their advent by the gradual an- 

 nihilation of the gray species. I have had the pleasure for 

 some years of enjoying the friendship of Colonel Skinner, 

 son of the old postmaster-general ; from him I learn that he 

 frequently heard his father speak on this subject, and that 

 he has often visited the spot where the first English, or red 

 foxes, were released. From my own personal experience I 

 can state a circumstance corroborative of the fact, that with 

 the entrke of the red fox into any section of country the 1 

 gray species either migrates or perishes. Some years since 

 I lived in a hilly portion of Southern Illinois. On my ar- 

 rival the little gray foxes were so numerous that with a 

 moderate pack of hounds two or three could be killed daily. 

 I had not been there over a year when, to my surprise, I 

 jumped up a noble specimen of the red, while deer-shoot- 

 ing. From that date the gray commenced to diminish, 

 and I am informed by reliable authority that at the present 

 time not a single representative of the smaller breed is to 

 be found in that district. Audubon, an authority on whom 

 generally the greatest reliance can be placed, regards the 

 black and red fox as simple varieties of the same species. 

 Doubtless, he never heard of the red fox being a foreigner, 

 or he would probably have agreed in the decision I have 

 come to knowing the truth of the red fox's introduction 



