KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



221 



The Naturalist, Xo. 38. R. Groom- 

 bridge and Sons. 



There are papers this month on Rare 

 Animals occurring in Aberdeenshire, the 

 House- Sparrow, the Woodcock, the Coleop- 

 tera, round Exeter ; and others of minor 

 interest. There is also an article on the 

 Habits of the Fox, by A. S. Moffat. From 

 this, we borrow a few anecdotes : — 



In the spring of 1838, the woodman at Beanley 

 Plantation discovered the breeding-earth of a fox, 

 at the mouth of which he placed a trap, and caught 

 the old mother; and afterwards, with the assis- 

 tance of two or three neighbors, dug out the 

 young cubs, five in number, about the size of 

 halt-grown rats, and covered with dark brown fur. 

 I became possessed of one of these, which for 

 several days at first was very discontented with 

 its new situation, and kept almost constantly 

 calling out in a sort of quick yelping bark. It 

 however lapped milk readily, and soon became 

 reconciled, and so tame, that until it was twelve 

 months old, it had its liberty about the dwelling- 

 house the same as a dog. which in many points of 

 character it closely resembled. 



When more than halt grown, it used to follow 

 me about the garden and village, and frequently 

 made little excursions amongst the cottages by 

 itself, popping into the houses to investigate their 

 larders, to the no small terror of the old women, 

 who regarded it with as much admiration as a 

 Yankee regards the skunk; and frequently have I 

 seen them, to my no small amusement, endeavor- 

 ing in vain to drive him out with a broom; but 

 nard, not to be ousted in this manner, would 

 contrive somehow or other still to pop past them 

 with the most impudent effrontery imaginable ; 

 and not leave the house, in spite of every friendly 

 invective, until it suited himself. 



At this period of its life, it did not seem to evince 

 that extreme distrust towards strangers which 

 was so strongly marked when it arrived fully at 

 maturity — nor did it seem ever to desire at that 

 time to resume its native habits, — while its affec- 

 tion for all the members of our own family seemed 

 to be even stronger than is generally witnessed 

 in dogs. Every night while it remained as an 

 inmate of the dwelling-house, it slept upon a mat 

 at the foot of the staircase in the passage ; and as 

 each member of the family came down in the 

 morning, it used to meet them half-way, and 

 express its joy by leaping against them, and 

 uttering a sort of hoarse scream, much after the 

 manner of an affectionate dog, and fanning its 

 tail in the same way — only the expression of its 

 satisfaction seemed more extravagant. 



"V\ hen nearly full-grown. Reynard's natural pre- 

 dilection for poultry manifested itself one day, with 

 his being met by the servant carrying in his 

 mouth a turkey hen, which he had abstracted 

 from her nest in the yard, for which act of felony 

 he was ever afterwards confined by a chain in a 

 grass area behind the house, with a dog-coop for 

 shelter. This house made by man, he very 

 seldom inhabited, and preferred a hole of his own 

 digging which he generally lay in. His confidence 

 and affection for every member of our own family 

 was never in the least impaired by his confine- 

 ment; but his disposition towards strangers was 



much altered : he seemed now so distrustful and 

 suspicious of any one with whom he was not 

 acquainted, that his eye was never for a moment 

 removed from them, so long as they were in 

 sight ; he watched them with the most intense 

 attention, and on their approach ran into his hole, 

 from which it required great force to drag him. 

 On the other hand, if any of ourselves went to- 

 wards him, he would bound to meet us at the 

 j stretch of his chain, so as almost to strangle him- 

 self; uttering at the same time a peculiar hoarse 

 ', scream indicative of satisfaction, which was the 

 only vocal sound I ever heard him use. I have 

 even seen him leave his meal to welcome my 

 youngest sister, who was an especial favorite; 

 i and what was most singular in an animal naturally 

 ; so wild, he would allow me to open his mouth, 

 I place my fingers in it, even extending to the 

 j throat, as often as I pleased, without once at- 

 1 tempting to bite. I could also at any time take 

 him up in my arms — liberties I should not like to 

 take even with the quietest dog. 



A remarkable trait in his character was his 



fondness for the society of dogs; he would pull at 



I the chain till half-exhausted to get at them, no 



[ matter whether strange ones or not, and on their 



approach, he began fanning his tail, whining, 



laying back his ears, smelling at their mouths, 



and betraying other signs of a desire to play with 



I them. I have seen him for hours gambol with a 



terrier I had, as also with many strange dogs ; and, 



what was equally singular, 1 never saw any dog 



manifest the least dislike or ill-nature towards 



him. The woodman had at that time a strong 



terrier celebrated for killing vermin, and I have 



seen this dog go forward, smell at him, and then 



turn quietly away. 



I will here notice a point of dissimilarity in 



! manner between this fox and dogs in general, 



which, though trivial in itself, serves to indicate 



1 a difference of disposition: it will be remarked 



that when two dogs meet (strangers to each 



other), it is their invariable habit to smell at each 



other, a tergo, while the fox always snuffed at the 



' mouth. I kept this fox between two and three 



! years, when, having slipped his collar, which he 



| sometimes did, and taken to a neighboring 



wood, he was fallen in with by a pack of harriers, 



and killed, mucb to my tegi 



Evenings in My Tent. By the Rev. N. 

 Davis. 2 Vols. Hall, Virtue, & Co. 



This is a very interesting work of African 

 travel ; and as it tells us much of what is 

 very little known, it will be read with great 

 avidity. 



The information furnished, is the result of 

 a six years' residence in various parts of the 

 North of Africa ; and we may take an early 

 occasion of calling attention to some of the 

 rev. gentleman's excellent observations on 

 what he witnessed during his long sojourn in 

 those parts. To day we can only make 

 room for a very touching case of affection, 

 evinced for each other by two slaves. Affec- 

 tion is common to every shore. Our fair 

 readers will peruse it ; and weep over it, no 

 doubt : — 



