GRAY FOX. 167 



feet from the ground, looks down on the fierce and clamorous pack which 

 soon comes up and surrounds the foot of the tree. We were on one oc- 

 casion, in company with a friend, seeking for partridges in an old field 

 partially overgrown with high grass and bushes, when his large and ac- 

 tive pointer dog suddenly started a Gray Fox, which instantly took to its 

 heels, pursued by the dog : after a race of a minute, the latter was so close 

 upon the Fox that it ascended a small tree, and our friend soon came up, 

 and shot it. We were unable to obtain any information in regard to the 

 manner in which the Fox climbs trees, as he does not possess the retrac- 

 tile nails of the cat, or the sharp claws of the squirrel, until we saw the 

 animal in the act. At one time when we thus observed the Fox, he first 

 leaped on to a low branch, four or &ve feet from the ground, from whence 

 he made his way upwards by leaping cautiously and rather awkwardly 

 from branch to branch, till he attained a secure position in the largest 

 fork of the tree, where he stopped. On another occasion, he ascended 

 in the manner of a bear, but with far greater celerity, by clasping the 

 stem of a small pine. We have since been informed that the Fox also 

 climbs trees occasionally by the aid of his claws, in the manner of a ra- 

 coon or a cat. During winter only about one-fifth of the Foxes chased 

 by hounds, will take a tree before they suffer themselves to be run 

 down ; but in summer, either from the warmth of the weather causing 

 them to be soon fatigued, or from the greater number being young ani- 

 mals, they seldom continue on foot beyond thirty or forty minutes before 

 they fly for protection to a tree. It may here be observed that as long 

 as the Fox can wind through the thick underbrush, he will seldom resort 

 to a tree, a retreat to which he is forced by open woods and a hard chase. 

 . In general, it may be said that the Gray Fox digs no burrow, and does 

 not seek concealment in the earth ; we have, however, seen one instance 

 to the contrary, in a high, sandy, pine-ridge west of Albany, in the State 

 of New- York. We there observed a burrow from which a female Gray 

 Fox and four young were taken. It differed widely from the burrows 

 of the red fox, having only a single entrance. At about eight feet from 

 the mouth of the burrow there was an excavation containing a nest com- 

 posed of leaves, in which the young had been deposited. We have, on 

 several occasions, seen the kennel of the Gray Fox — it is usually in a 

 prostrate hollow log ; we once, however, discovered one under the roots of 

 a tree. In the State of New-York we were shown a hollow tree, leaning 

 on another at an angle of about forty-five degrees from a large hole in 

 which two Gray Foxes had been taken ; they were traced to this retreat 

 by their footsteps in the deep snow, and from the appearance of the nest 

 it seemed to have been their resort for a long time. 



