FOXES 



We have experienced three memorable snow- 

 storms this winter, and before each of them the 

 .owls and foxes hooted or barked in a wholly 

 unusual manner, and before the first one, the 

 celebrated November storm, the owls were flying 

 about and hooting before the middle of the after- 

 noon. Now I have never believed the barking 

 of foxes or the hooting of owls to be a reliable 

 forecast of stormy weather on every occasion ; but 

 I am fully persuaded that animals are affected 

 by the approach of a storm of unusual violence, 

 and at such times are apt to utter cries unlike 

 their ordinary ones. 



Before the storm set in last night, I heard the 

 mice in the walls squeaking as I have not heard 

 them before for months, as if they, too, like the 

 foxes, were excited by its approach. 



The footprints of a fox rather resemble those 

 of a small dog, and are ordinarily placed in a 

 straight line, one directly in front of another, and 



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