GRAY FOX. 171 



him, and as a last resort climbs a small tree. The hounds and hunters 

 are almost instantly at the foot of it, and whilst the former are barking 

 fiercely at the terrified animal, the latter determine to give him another 

 chance for his life. The dogs are taken off to a little distance, and the 

 Fox is then forced to leap to the ground by reaching mth a long pole, or 

 throwing a billet of wood at him. He is allowed a quarter of an hour 

 before the hounds are permitted to pursue him, but he is now less able to 

 escape than before ; he has become stiff and chill, is soon overtaken, and 

 falls an easy prey, turning however upon his pursuers with a growl of 

 despair, and snapping at his foes until he bites the dust, and the chase is 

 ended. 



The following anecdotes of the sagacity of this animal, we hope, may 

 interest our readers. Shortly after the railroad from Charleston to Ham- 

 burgh, South Carolina, had been constructed, the rails for a portion of the 

 distance having been laid upon timbers at a considerable height from the 

 ground, supported by strong posts, we observed a Fox which was hard 

 pressed by a pack of hounds, mounting the rails, upon which he ran 

 several hundred yards ; the dogs were unable to pursue him, and he 

 thus crossed a deep cj'press swamp over which the railroad ■was in this 

 singular manner carried, and made his escape on the opposite side. The 

 late Benjamin C. Yancey, Esa., an eminent lawyer, who in his youth was 

 very fond of fox-hunting, related the following. A Fox had been pur- 

 sued, near his residence at Edgefield several times, but the hounds always 

 lost the track at a place ■where there was a foot-path leading doAvn a 

 steep hill. He, therefore, determined to conceal himself near this decli- 

 vity the next time the Fox was started, in order to discover his mode of 

 bafHing the dogs at this place. The animal was accordingly put up and 

 chased, and at first led the hounds through many bayous and ponds in 

 the woods, but at length came running over the brow of the hill along 

 the path, stopped suddenly and spread himself out flat and motionless on 

 the ground ; the hounds came down the hill in pursuit at a dashing pace, 

 and the whole pack passed and did not stop until they were at the bot- 

 tom of the hill. As soon as the immediate danger was over, the Fox 

 casting a furtive glance around him, started up, and ran ofi" at his greatest 

 speed on his " back track." 



The Gray Fox produces from three to five young at a time. In Ca- 

 roliaa this occurs from the middle of March to the middle of April ; in 

 the State of New York they bring forth somewhat later. Gestation con- 

 tinues for about three months. 



