332 TfiE ZOOLOGIST. 



to see for some time after birth. If they could, they might just 

 manage to crawl to the mouth of the earth, and die of cold, or be 

 carried off by some passer-by. 



It is generally supposed that the Fox is not capable of being 

 tamed, and that its temper is too irritable and uncertain to admit 

 of its being handled like a dog. I cannot help thinking that this 

 results from the mode of treatment usually adopted. Generally 

 speaking, the so-called tame Fox is chained up to a kennel, in 

 which it spends nearly all its time, except when feeding, or into 

 which it is driven by every passer-by. Every one who has had 

 experience of dogs knows how irritable and snappish they become 

 if continually chained up. It is doubtless the same with Foxes. 

 If given greater liberty, and with proper precautions taken to 

 prevent escape, their snappishness arising from mistrust would 

 disappear. A gentleman of my acquaintance, living not far from 

 London, but whose name I forbear to mention lest he should be 

 besieged by too many curious visitors, has a brace of tame Foxes 

 which are never chained up, but are allowed the run of his 

 garden for some time every day, and are shut in at night in a 

 comfortable outhouse. High wire-netting being strained along 

 the top of the garden-walls, and leaning inwards, prevents any 

 attempt at escape, and it is one of the prettiest sights imaginable 

 to see these two Foxes, in the highest condition of health and fur, 

 chasing each other round and over the lawn, waving their 

 brushes to and fro, and at times going at their best pace in 

 thorough enjoyment of the liberty allowed them. They were 

 obtained when young, and are now, I believe, in their third year. 

 Under this sensible treatment they present a very different 

 appearance to the half-starved, cowering, snappish-looking 

 animals one too often sees chained to a small kennel. 



The Fox is too well-known an animal to stand in need here 

 of particular description. I will therefore refer only to two 

 points which have been barely touched upon by Bell, and some 

 discussion of which would have made his account of this animal 

 more complete, namely, the peculiarity of the eyes, and the 

 occasional variation in the colour of the fur. In dogs, however 

 great the intensity of light to which they may be exposed, the 

 iris uniformly contracts round the pupil in the form of a circle ; 

 whereas in Foxes, if observed during the day, or under the 

 influence of a strong light, it is seen to close in a vertical 



