ORDER CARNASSIER. 363 



over by high-sounding names, or to whatever degree of 

 refinement they may be spun by those mighty casuists, va- 

 nity and self-love. All our feelings and ideas, however 

 refined and abstracted, are resolvable in their last analysis 

 into physical sensation, and the closer their connexion is 

 with this primal source, the more impetuous and command- 

 ing is their influence. If this be the case with man, it is 

 much more strikingly so with the brute creation. 



About the month of February, the Foxes are in heat. 

 They are then heard to utter very sharp yelpings, which 

 commence like the barking of a Dog, and end in a sound 

 resembling the cry of a Peacock. Gestation continues for 

 from sixty to sixty-five days. When the female is ready 

 for parturition, she prepares a bed for her young with 

 leaves and hay. The cubs are generally from five to eight 

 in number, and born like Dogs, covered with hair, and 

 having the eyes shut. 



As the vicinity of the Fox is productive of nothing but 

 inconvenience to Man, and as its intelligence augments its 

 resources against danger, the Fox-chase has always afforded 

 a subject of occupation and amusement to great landed 

 proprietors. Many crowned heads, both in our own and 

 foreign countries, have been passionately devoted to this 

 sport. Among others, Louis XIII. of France gave to this 

 species of hunting the preference over all others, and even 

 brought to perfection the employing the Hound instead of 

 the Terrier, which last, previously to his time, had been 

 constantly used for this purpose. This piece of informa- 

 tion we derive from Robert de Salnove, lieutenant of the 

 chase to that royal lump of imbecility. 



At about three or four months old, the young Foxes quit 

 their burrow. They abandon their parents with all conve- 

 nient speed, and at two years of age their growth is com- 

 pleted. 



The Fox averages about two feet and a half, or a little 



Vol. II. 2 C 



