94 



THE FOX. 



all sides by trees or bushes, in the cover of which dan- 

 ger might approach, they are less liable to surprise 

 and capture. On the slightest sound they disappear in 

 the hole. Those who have watched the gambols of 

 the young foxes, speak of them as very amusing, even 

 more arch and playful than those of kittens, while a 

 spirit profoundly wise and cunning seems to look out 

 of their young eyes. The parent-fox can never be 

 caught in the den with them, but is hovering near the 

 woods, which are always at hand, and by her warn 

 ing cry or bark telling them when to be on their 

 guard. She usually has at least three dens, at no 

 great distance apart, and moves stealthily in the night 

 with her charge from one to the other, so as to mis- 

 lead her enemies. Many a party of boys, and of 

 men, too, discovering the whereabouts of a litter, have 

 gone with shovels and picks, and, after digging away 

 vigorously for several hours, have found only an empty 

 hole for their pains. The old fox, finding her secret 

 had been found out, had waited for darkness, in the 

 cover of which to transfer her household to new quar- 

 ters ; or else some old fox-hunter, jealous of the preser- 

 vation of his game, and getting word of the intended 

 destruction of the litter, had gone at dusk the night 

 before, and made some disturbance about the den, per- 

 haps flashed some powder in its mouth — a hint which 

 the shrewd animal knew how to interpret. 



The more scientific aspects of the question may not 

 be without interest to some of my readers. The fox 



