54 SQUIRRELS AND OTHER FUR-BEARERS 



at many points where he had crossed the road. 

 Here he had leisurely passed within rifle-range 

 of the house, evidently reconnoitring the prem- 

 ises with an eye to the hen-roost. That clear, 

 sharp track, — there was no mistaking it for the 

 clumsy footprint of a little dog. • All his wildness 

 and agility were photographed in it. Here he 

 had taken fright, or suddenly recollected an en- 

 gagement, and in long, graceful leaps, barely 

 touching the fence, had gone careering up the 

 hill as fleet as the wind. 



The usual gait of the fox, unlike that of the 

 dog, is, at night at least, a walk. On such occa- 

 sions he is in quest of game and he goes through 

 the woods and fields in an alert, stealthy manner, 

 stepping about a foot at a time, and keeping his 

 eyes and ears open. 



The wild, buoyant creature, how beautiful he 

 is ! I had often seen his dead carcass, and at a 

 distance had witnessed the hounds drive him 

 across the upper fields ; but the thrill and ex- 

 citement of meeting him in his wild freedom in 

 the woods were unknown to me till, one cold 

 winter day, drawn thither by the baying of a 

 hound, I stood near the summit of the mountain, 

 waiting a renewal of the sound, that I might de- 

 termine the course of the dog and choose my 

 position, — stimulated by the ambition of all 



