THE PARMER'S SLY NEIGHBOR. 219 



tail are tipped with black ; tlie fur is thick and 

 warm ; the tone along the line of the back is a pale 

 burnt sienna ; the tail is bushy and long, and the 

 gradation of color from the back to the stomach 

 through ruddy ocher to bu£E and cream is beautiful 

 beyond expression. 



Reynard is not easily trapped, however ; his keen 

 scent discovers the touch of a hand and the tracks of 

 a foot at once, and he will not approach a trap. It 

 is often the case that the fox's aversion to water is the 

 means of his being entrapped by shrewd hunters. 

 The method of setting the trap is this : The bait is 

 placed conspicuously on a stone out in the shallow 

 water just beyond reach of the fox ; halfway be- 

 tween this and the shore the set trap is sunken, and 

 over it is placed, slightly above water, a lump of turf ; 

 the fox then, to avoid wetting his feet, steps on the 

 insecure turf, the trap snaps, and he is caught. 



I do not know how common the red fox now is 

 over the country from East to West, but forty odd 

 years ago he was to be found almost anywhere. Dr. 

 Abbott writes that in the vicinity of Trenton, N. J., 

 the fox could be considered as extinct eight years ago, 

 although at that time he appeared together with the 

 wild-cat at long intervals. But in the Pemigewas- 

 set and Merrimac valleys, 'New Hampshire, he is 

 certainly very common indeed ; only last summer I 



