and Economy of the Fox. 509 



to explain what did really happen in the two instances quoted 

 by Mr. Blyth, Vol. I. n. s. p. 5. 



1. " The fox has been known to personate a defunct car- 

 cass when surprised in a hen-house ; and it has even suffered 

 itself to be carried out by the brush, and thrown on a dung- 

 heap, whereupon it instantly rose and took to its heels, to the 

 astounding dismay of its human dupe." 



The true version of this case, I think, is, that a man sur- 

 prised a fox in his hen-house, and beat the animal on its head 

 till he thought he had killed it; whereupon he flung it in the 

 yard, when the fox instantly recovered through the concussion 

 of its nervous system, and ran away. Suppose the fox had 

 really kept crouching in a corner till the man touched its 

 brush, which I am far from thinking probable; it would have 

 bitten him most unmercifully when grasping any part of its 

 body. But I have myself tracked a fox into a barn, and, 

 after a long search, without dogs, discovered it by its eyes 

 shining like two balls of fire from out of a corner inside the 

 eaves of the roof. The instant the animal saw it was per- 

 ceived, it did not wait for my arrival, bat scampered away 

 along the eaves towards the staircase, and was with some dif- 

 ficulty caught alive. As to the probable cause I have given 

 of the revival of the fox, I may refer to an analogous instance, 

 which can easily be verified. When a small bird, just 

 caught, becomes insensible by knocking its head against the 

 pane of a window, it may be as well revived instantly by 

 dropping it from the height of 5 or 6 feet on a hard floor, as by 

 submerging it in cold water ; and 1 have witnessed an instance 

 in which the bird (a sparrow) took to the wing the moment it 

 touched the floor. 



2. As to the second case mentioned by Mr. Blyth : " In 

 like manner, this animal has submitted to be carried away for 

 more than a mile, swung over the shoulder, with its head 

 hanging ; till at length, probably getting weary of so uncom- 

 fortable a position, or perhaps reaso?iing that its instinctive 

 stratagem had failed in its object, it has very speedily effected 

 its release, by suddenly biting : " I may say that cases bearing 

 a close resemblance to the above one, except in the stratagem 

 ascribed to the fox of feigning to be dead, are of frequent 

 occurrence in Germany, where the fox is commonly shot. 

 The wounded animal is deprived of life by beating it on its 

 nose; then the sinew above the hock joint of one leg is 

 separated from the fleshy parts and bone of the thigh, by a 

 knife being thrust through the integuments; whereupon the 

 other hind leg is passed through the hole so formed, and the 

 carcass hung on a stick, which a man carries over his shoulder, 



pr 3 



