50 AMERICAN CROSS FOX. 



either reaches him, and the hunter is made aware of his whereabouts, by 

 his snapping at it and growling, which calls forth a yelp of fierce anxiety 

 from the dog ; or, as frequently happens, the Fox is heard digging for life, 

 and making no contemptible progress through the earth. Should no rocks 

 or large roots interfere, he is easily unearthed, and caught by the dog. 



It however very frequently occurs, that the den of the Fox is situat- 

 ed on the mountain side ; and that its winding galleries run beneath 

 the enormous roots of some stately pine or oak ; or it may be amongst 

 huge masses of broken rock, in some fissure of too great depth to be 

 sounded, and too contracted to be entered by man or dog. What is then 

 to be done ? Should a " dead-fall" be set at the mouth of the hole, the 

 Fox will (unless the ground be frozen too hard,) dig another opening, and 

 not go out b}- the old place of egress ; place a steel-trap before it, and he 

 will spring it without being caught. He will remain for days in his re- 

 treat, ■without once exposing himself to the danger of having a dog snap- 

 ping at his nose, or a load of duck-shot whistling rovmd his ears. Our 

 hunter, however, is not much worried with such reflections as we have 

 just made ; he has already gathered an armful or t'wo of dry wood, and 

 perhaps some resinous knots, or bits of the bark of the pine-tree ; he cuts up 

 a portion into small pieces, pulls out his tinder-box, flint, and steel, and in 

 a few moments a smart fire is lighted within the burrow ; more wood is 

 thrown on, the mass pushed further down the hole, and as soon as it be- 

 gins to roar and blaze freelj', the mouth is stopped with brush-wood 

 covered with a few spadefuls of earth, and the den is speedily exhausted 

 of pure air, and filled with smoke and noxious gases. 



There is no escape for the Fox — an enemy woi-se than the dog or the 

 gun, is destroying him ; he dies a protracted, painful death by suffoca- 

 tion ! In about an hour the entrance is uncovered, large volumes of 

 smoke issue into the pure air, and w^hen the hunter's eye can pierce 

 through the dense smoky darkness of the interior, he may perhaps discern 

 the poor Fox extended lifeless in the burrow, and may reach him with a 

 stick. If not quite dead, the Fox is at least exhausted and insensible ; this 

 is sometimes the case, and the animal is then knocked on the head. 



The number of Foxes taken by our neighbours, in the primitive mode 

 of himting them we have attempted to describe, was, as nearly as we can 

 now recollect, about sixty every winter, or an average of nearly twenty 

 killed by each hunter. After one or two seasons, the number of Foxes 

 in that part of the country was sensibly diminished, although the settle- 

 ments had not increased materially and the neighbom-hood was at that 

 time very wild. 



At this time Pennant's marten {Muslela Canadensis) was not very 



