THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
been developed to a high degree to make up for its bodily de- 
ficiencies, and shows capacity for further development; yet, 
says Beddard, “the sagacity of the fox appears to be a little 
more proverbial than actual,” and certainly is far more apparent 
in populous countries than in a wilderness. This fact is of 
itself, however, a tribute to the animal’s intelligence as betoken- 
ing a quality of mind above mere native half-instinctive knowl- 
edge, for some kinds of foxes display notable quickness in meet- 
ing the new problems presented by the clearing and cultivation 
of the wilderness, and the rising of man, with his guns, traps, 
and poisons, to the rank of chief enemy, — an entirely novel 
state of things. 
The literature of fox hunting in Great Britain teems with illustrations 
of the animal’s wiles in ‘‘saving its brush” in the face of the persecution 
to which for two hundred years or more it has been exposed 
by that sport, and many of the incidents recorded are truly 
remarkable; yet undoubtedly the British fox would long ago have been 
exterminated were it not regularly bred and “‘preserved” there. In other 
countries, however, where little or no help is given by either law or public 
opinion, the animal holds its own among men by its quickness in ‘catching 
on,” and by its cautious, keen study of each new thing it encounters. Man 
may be sure he has never studied Reynard so closely as Reynard has studied 
him! Even here, nevertheless, exaggerations and misstatements have 
crept in, else we must believe that the foxes had grown so wise long ago 
that the supply of their pelts must have ceased; at least so exalted a view 
of their ability as that, for example, in Seton’s ° ‘Springfield Fox” must 
be rejected, like much else in that author’s fascinating but uncritical writ- 
ings. The fact remains, all the same, that foxes generally are notably 
clever and quick-witted; and that they often, but not always, show aston- 
ishing skill and appreciation in coping by new and improved strategy with 
some entirely novel situation, where life will be the forfeit paid for a 
blunder. 
Sagacity. 
The typical species — the fox of ordinary speech — is the red 
fox. Inhabiting the whole northern hemisphere, it varies im- 
mensely in both size and color, and has been given many local 
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