186 THE COMMON FOX. 



caught and more securely caged. It was supposed that it had 

 been attracted to the infant by the smell of a bread and milk 

 poultice applied to relieve a complaint under which the poor 

 little creature was suffering. 



THE COMMON Fox, OR TOD. (Canis vulpes, Linn.) 



Zoologists are at variance as to the extent of the common 

 fox's geographical range; some considering that the foxes of 

 several foreign countries are merely varieties of the present 

 species, somewhat altered and modified in their form, and in 

 the texture of their fur, from local influences j and others, that 

 they are distinct species. Dr. Weissenborn has justly remarked 

 that " the history of the fox still teems with false notions, or 

 points not quite settled. It has been composed from the 

 statements of what had been inaccurately observed ; from the 

 observations of unscientific huntsmen and gamekeepers, who, 

 besides being extremely superstitious, had most of them a good 

 spice of Baron Munchausen ; and as it is often impossible to 

 refute an assertion by facts directly opposite, and, as in former 

 ages, almost any fiction could be palmed upon mankind for 

 truth, we shall find that the very animals with whom man 

 has become first acquainted are often the least perfectly known." 



