Fox - Ways. g 



afternoon the young foxes come out to play in the 

 sunshine Hke so many kittens. Bright little bundles 

 of yellow fur they seem, full of tricks and whims, 

 with pointed faces that change only from exclama- 

 tion to interrogation points, and back again. For 

 hours at a stretch they roll about, and chase tails, 

 and pounce upon the quiet old mother with fierce 

 little barks. One climbs laboriously up the rock 

 behind the den, and sits on his tail, gravely surveying 

 the great landscape with a comical little air of impor- 

 tance, as if he owned it all. When called to come 

 down he is afraid, and makes a great to-do about it. 

 Another has been crouching for five minutes bcliind 

 a tuft of grass, watching like a cat at a rat-hole for 

 some one to come b)' and be pounced upon. Anotlier 

 is worrying something on the ground, a cricket per- 

 haps, or a doodle-bug ; and the fourth never ceases 

 to worry the patient old mother, till she moves away 

 and lies down bv herself in the shadow of a 2;round 

 cedar. 



As the afternoon wears away, and long shadows 

 come creeping up the hillside, the mother rises sud- 

 denly and goes back to the den ; the little ones stop 

 their play, and gather about her. You strain your 

 ears for the slightest sound, but hear nothing ; yet 

 there she is, plainly talking to them ; and they are 

 listening. She turns her head, and the cubs scamper 



