86 FOX. Class I. 



playful, but like all other savage creatures half 

 reclamed, will, on the lest offence, bite those it 

 is most familiar with. It is a great admirer of 

 its bushy tail, with which it frequently amuses 

 and exercises itself by running in circles to catch 

 it, and in cold weather wraps it round its nose. 



The smell of this animal in general is very 

 strong, but that of the urine is most remarkably 

 foetid. This seems so offensive even to itself, 

 that it will take the trouble of digging a hole in 

 the ground, stretching its body at full length 

 over it, and there, after depositing its water, 

 cover it over with the earth, as the cat does its 

 dung. The smell is so offensive, that it has 

 often proved the means of the fox's escape from 

 the dogs, who have so strong an aversion to the 

 filthy effluvia, as to avoid encountering the animal 

 it came from. It is said that the fox makes 

 use of its urine as an expedient to force the 

 cleanly badger from its habitation : whether 

 that is the means is rather doubtful, but that 

 the fox makes use of the badger's hole is cer- 

 tain ; not through want of ability to form its own 

 retreat, but to save itself some trouble, for after 

 the expulsion of the first inhabitant, the fox im- 

 proves, as well as enlarges it considerably, add- 

 ing several chambers, and providently making 



