FOXES 



The sight of the more distinguished-looking 

 red fox, on the contrary, with his long legs and 

 brilliant colouring, always fills me with surprise in 

 spite of myself, as if it were some strange creature 

 escaped from confinement, and not just a com- 

 mon fox, reared perhaps in my own pasture, and 

 whose ancestors were dwelling here, for all that 

 I know to the contrary, ages before my own 

 crossed the seas. For although certain writers 

 have tried to prove that ours is only a variation 

 of the European red fox brought to this country 

 by the first settlers, there seems to be but slight 

 argument on their side. And I, for my part, shall 

 always associate the red fox and the red Indian 

 as co-inhabitants of the old forests that once 

 stood here. 



6i 



