Quadrupeds fyc. 4049 



Anecdote of the Power of Fascination as exercised by a Fox, with 

 some Remarks on the exercise of a similar Power by other 

 Predaceous Animals. By J. H. Gurney, Esq. 



I have received the following interesting statement from a respect- 

 able gamekeeper in the county of Surrey : — 



" In May, 1838, I was very much annoyed by the constant visits of 

 a fox amongst my poultry, as scarcely a night passed but I lost either 

 a turkey or Guinea-fowl, sometimes partly eaten, sometimes taken 

 quite away, and at other times left dead, but very little mutilated ; 

 and as they roosted on a large spreading oak, I was at a loss to know 

 how a fox could get at them, till one morning, just as day began to 

 dawn, I heard a great noise among the poultry, and on looking out 

 from my window, I plainly perceived a fox running round and round 

 under the place where the poultry sat, and the poultry soon began to 

 fall from the tree in great confusion. The fox immediately seized its 

 prey, and I was no longer at a loss to know in what way I had lost 

 my poultry. The fox was killed within a day or two after, in an ad- 

 joining paddock, and proved to be a very large male fox. I have not 

 since lost any poultry in a similar way." 



This account confirms me in an opinion which I have long enter- 

 tained, that many predaceous animals exercise a species of mesmeric 

 influence over their victims, which greatly facilitates their capture. I 

 recollect having heard of a cat, which would sit on the house-top, and 

 catch sparrows which approached her too closely in their vain at- 

 tempts to drive her from her post ; and it is well known that if a cat 

 or an owl attacks a cage or aviary containing small birds, the latter 

 constantly fly against the wires, thus enabling their enemy to strike 

 them through the wire-w r ork. Analogous to this is, in all probability, 

 the power possessed by rattlesnakes, and some other serpents, of at- 

 tracting small birds within their reach. And I doubt not that a simi- 

 lar law of Nature gives rise to the habit which small birds have of 

 mobbing those birds and animals which make them their prey : as an 

 illustration of which I may mention a circumstance that came under 

 my own observation some years since. 



A kestrel was flying lazily, slowly, and at but a slight elevation, by 

 the side of a plantation, closely surrounded and angrily pursued by a 

 flock of chattering sparrows. For some seconds, or perhaps minutes, 

 the hawk took no notice of his tormentors ; but at length, suddenly 

 turning on his side in the air, and striking out one foot with a lateral 

 XI. 2 U 



