184 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
the royal troops to suppress the Revolution. This noble 
veteran was doubtless a hard-riding and enthusiastic fox- 
hunter. The little gray fox indigenous to the country did 
not suit his exalted ideas, from having enjoyed the noble 
sport at home, and to remedy the evil he went to the trou- 
ble, and doubtless, in those days, great expense, to import 
the larger, gamer, and more lasting animal. The result 
was the success he so eminently deserved. The first arri- 
vals were turned down in Maryland, not far from Balti- 
more. From there they have gradually extended north, 
south, and west, marking their advent by the gradual an- 
nihilation of the gray species. I have had the pleasure for 
some years of enjoying the friendship of Colonel Skinner, 
son of the old postmaster-general; from him I learn that he 
frequently heard his father speak on this subject, and that 
he has often visited the spot where the first English, or red 
foxes, were released. From my own personal experience I 
can state a circumstance corroborative of the fact, that with 
the entrée of the red fox into any section of country the 
gray species either migrates or-perishes. Some years since 
I lived in a hilly portion of Southern Illinois. On my ar- 
rival the little gray foxes were so numerous that with a 
moderate pack of hounds two or three could be killed daily. 
I had not been there over a year when, to my surprise, I 
jumped up a noble specimen of the red, while deer-shoot- 
ing. From that date the gray commenced to diminish, 
and I am informed by reliable authority that at the present 
time not a single representative of ‘the smaller breed is to 
be found in that district. Audubon, an authority on whom 
generally the greatest reliance can be placed, regards the 
black and red fox as simple varieties of the same species. 
Doubtless he never heard of the red fox being a foreigner, 
or he would probably have agreed in the decision I have 
come to—knowing the truth of the red fox’s introduction 
