FOX HUXTrS-G IN AMERICA. 255 



elsewhere, by trees, shrubs, rocks, holes, &c., renders the 

 whole game of flight and pursuit a plain, straight-forward 

 matter of hard rmming on both sides ; so that it is no great 

 ■ivonder after all, if the heels of both the predatory and fngi- 

 ti\ e ammEls sbould be somewhat cnltivated. As civilization 

 is extended toward these remote regions, we shall know more 

 of the habits of these fleet children of the solitndes, it is to be 

 hapei. 



The Arctic Fox is more fenuliar to us, though really far 

 more distant, and living among more nnpropitious and appa- 

 rently inaccessible fastnesses, locked in by icebergs. 



I shall merely say of it. that it is the only one of the genus 

 which we think at aU justifies the remark, that '• a large fox 

 is a wolf, and a small wolf may be termed a fox." It is much 

 more Kke the jackal and wolf in its habits ; like them, it is 

 gregario'is. when pressed with hunger, and is known, like 

 them, to hunt in packs. 



But the Red and Gray Foxes are the most interesting, for 

 around them all the legendary and historical memorabilia 

 of the genus cluster. This Red Fox must be the same mighty 

 embodiment of quadrupedal treachery, upon whose sneaking 

 head the indignant Chaucer loosened such an avalanche of 

 bitter epithet and grand comparison — 



" false morderonr reecldiig in tbj den ! 

 O newe Scariot, newe Genelon, 

 O false dissimiilonr, Greek Sinon, 

 That bronghtest Troye al utterly to roime." 



And I fear he has not much improved iu manners since ; 

 for so well is the slipperiness of his reputation understood, 

 that his most earnestly solicitous friends, the sportsmen, not 

 to speak of Xatnralists, are to this day puzzled with regard 

 to his identity. It is a question now of grave dispute, whether 

 this "false morderour," denotmced into inmiortality by Chau- 

 cer, be identical with the personage known by the same name 

 among us — one party strenuously maintaining that the Red 



