^86 
i^^ORESt AND StIlfeAM. 
[Sept. 26, 1063. 
"Yes, if there were none there to find, it would. 
When i do find them the Government pays me $20 a 
month to let you know about it. I found those and 
they came mighty near finding mc." 
"There is another thing that I want to ask you," he 
Said, "do those Indians of yours play cards?" 
"I don't know, 1 did not stop there long enough to 
ask them. That may be what they wanted me for. I 
thought it was my scalp they wanted." 
"Well, Ave found a full deck of cards just wliere your 
Indians jumped you, and the major thought maybe you 
hau been trying to teach tht^ni poker," 
''No, I lost theni out of Ihy saddle pocket and did 
not have time just then to pick them up. If those 
Indians heed any points on poker let them call on the 
first sergeant of that troop down on tlie Clear Fork; 
he Can give them a few. tie put all the money he had 
on three sixes in a game we had down tlicre last Mon- 
day. I took it down on three queens lliat I happened 
to have. He has less money just now, but he knows 
more about draw poker. Let him give them points." 
I kept trying to think why those Indians did not 
follow me into the pass, and concluded that they must 
have suspected a trap. There might be a big party in 
there just waiting for them to charge into a hornets' 
nest. It is true that the party had not come up the 
road the way I had; but there was nothing to prevent 
them from coming down it, then stopping there while 
they sent me down as a bait; and these Indians were 
several removes from being fools; they knew that pass 
as well as I did and knew if they had to get out of it 
in a hurry most of them would stop there. Years after 
this I referred this question to an old chief, not telling 
him my opinion of it, and he told nie that this was 
why they had let me go. 
Cabia Blanco. 
A Trio of Gray Foxes* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In Forest axp Stream of June 6 (Vol. LX., p. 444), 
there was published an account of some small animals 
which we dug from a burrow near Beaverbrook 
I'arni, at Mil ford, Connecticut. These animals 
Vk'ere brownish black ni color, about the size anO 
shape of new born kittens, blind, and at the time 
ihey \\crc discovered were apparently only a few hours 
old. They were put to nurse with a cat who had just 
given hirih lo ihrce killens, and at the lime were doing 
well. No one who had seen them had any clear idea as to 
what they were, and readers of Forest and Stream were 
asked for snggcsiions on the point. 
Such sitggeslions as were received,, by letters coming 
from reaflcrs in several States, we-re not very helpful, be- 
ing mere guesses; for no one of the correspondents ap- 
peared ever to have seen any animal just like these. 
Just one week after the animals were secured they began 
to open their eyes, and oil the day following all three had 
their eyes open. By this time the little touches of brown 
iJr fuhous. which from the beginning had been noticed 
behind the e;irs, began to spread. Moreover, the hair, 
which ai first had been short, smooth, and polished, be- 
gan 10 grow longer and to look more woolly, and this was 
noticed especially first behind the ears and then on the 
back of the tail.. 
Soon al"ler their eyes were open the little rascals began 
lo crawl about and to learn to eat bread and milk with 
great relish, trying to get into the dish in which the food 
was, and often standing with all four feet in it while 
they lapped the fluid. 
Soon after they had opened their eyes their teeth began 
to show, and as soon as these became visible, all idea of 
their being rodents was dropped, as the teeth showed them 
10 be carnjvora ;, and now the choice of names for them 
seemed to he between the raccoon and the gray fox, with 
the probabilities seemingly to be in favor of the raccoon, 
because the youngsters showed a great disposition to use 
their feet in climbing. 
As they grew larger they became very much more 
active, the coat grew longer, and the color began to 
AT ABOUT SIX WEEKS. 
change from a dull black to a dull gray, but still there 
was nothing by which their species could certainly be de- 
termined. Little by little they became more and more 
lively. Playing and fighting were almost incessant, ainl 
they spent much time scrambling about as fas,t as their lit- 
tle legs could carry them. 
The youUg :niimals were a source of enormous pride 
and joy to their foster mother. She seemed to like noth- 
ing better than to sit and watch them by the hour, and at 
first she feared danger for them and was very uneasy 
when visitors came to look at them. If she took pleasure 
in them in this way, however, she paid a price for it; 
for the little villains often insisted on playing with her, 
and biting her ears and tail; and their needle-like ifeeth 
must have hurt, for in these games the mother sometimes 
used to howl with pain. 
One day a red squirrel — detected as he emerged from a 
corn crib— was shot, brought to the stable and thrown in 
to the puppies. Then there was fun. Each one wanted it, 
and while tWo vyere fighting for it the third carried of? 
the prize, only to be attacked a moment later by the 
others. The struggle continued for some time, till at 
length the female beat off the others and for a long time 
chewed up the game unmolested. Now, too, from time to 
lime, the mother cat brought a mouse to them, and over 
each one of these was fought a battle similar to the one 
with the squirrel, and all of these were most interesting 
to watch. 
Their fights were often very fierce, and their anger 
seemed extreme. On more than one occasion blood was 
drawn, and the worrying sounds and nasal growlings 
which they uttered gave an impression of great fury. 
More than once it was feared that one of the fighters 
would be seriously hurt, and several times we were on 
the point of interfering to prevent injury to one or the 
other. 
Not very long after this, the little savages were taken 
from the stall in the stable where they had been confined 
since capture, and put in a kind of pen about ten feet 
square. This pen has a cement floor, and on three sides 
is inclosed by wire netting six feet high, while the 
fourth is the side of a woodshed. In the wall of the 
woodhouse a hole had been cut and a kennel built inside 
the house, and here the foster mother and her children 
could retreat when it rained, and here they were shut up 
at night. 
The change of location, which gave them sun and air 
and more room for exercise, was beneficial to the little 
beasts. They improved greatly and grew "like weeds." 
Such lively little chaps were never seen. They would 
run at the wire and half way up the side, and hang there 
and look out at the passers by. Sometimes they would 
scamper round the cage in circles, running as fast as they 
could. At first they were more or less slow and clumsy, 
but as they grew older they became more agile, jumping 
over whatever came in the way, and showing a swiftness 
and a lightness that seemed extraordinary. 
Little by little, hair by hair, the baby coats changed to 
the adult fur, and this change was closely watched, since 
kitten qtiickly stopped them by a slap in the face. When 
a kitten had not been in the pen for a couple of hours and 
the foxes saw one walking around near the cage, they 
made a great fuss, whining and yelping and scratching 
on the wire until someone put the little cat inside, when 
all three foxes fell upon it and smelt it all over and 
chewed its ears. They used to roll over the kitten and 
AT ABOUT TEN WEEKS. 
squeal in a way that was very funny, and the kitten would 
think itself the most popular thing around. 
Sometimes the kittens from without climbed up on the 
wire which roofed in the pen, and walked about on it. 
When they did this, the foxes became much excited, and 
clambering up the wire tried to reach the kittens, smell- 
ing at them and striving to bite and play with them. 
THREE MONTHS OLD. 
from it only could be determined what they were — 'coons 
or foxes. 
The ends of the hairs on the body became white, the 
brown became more pronounced on the ears and feet, but 
so slowly did the change come that no one could be sure 
about their species. Finally, however, a black streak be- 
gan to show along the top of their tails, and as this 
thickened and widened, so strengthened the hope and 
confidence of those who had declared them to be foxes, 
for who ever saw a 'coon with a black streak running 
along the top of his tail? 
As tame gray fo.xes (Urocyon cincrco-argentatus) 
they were held as wonders in Connecticut, and 
many people wrote to ask about them and came 
lo see them, and their health and physical strength 
impressed all their visitors. We imde great friends 
with the two dogs, but the bitch was timid and cross. 
One of the dogs was particularly tame; he would run 
up the arm and crawl about one's shoulders, and even 
perched on top of a head a few times until the cap slid 
off the wearer's head and the fox fell to earth rather 
suddenly. 
One night a great event happened to the tamest one. They 
had now grown quite large and the nights were warm, 
so that they were not locked up, but were given the free- 
dom of the yard all night. One morning Avhen the man 
came out to feed them, lo and behold there were only 
two foxes! Where was the third? A search was begun, 
but revealed nothing until someone went into the shed 
against which their pen was built to get some coal,, when 
what should he see but a terribly scared and hungry fox 
puppy sitting in the coal bin, thinking he was lost to the 
world. Once back, he was not to have another chance 
to get out, for a wire top was also put on the pen, and 
his journeys of exploration came to an inglorious end. 
He was not, however, deprived of amusement, for some 
golf balls were given him to play with, and, what was the 
greatest fun of all, they were introduced to the kittens. 
The kittens now became the greatest friends the foxes 
had. They were constantly put in the cage, and played 
with the foxes for hours. The foxes gently chewed the 
kitten's ears and tail, and when they got too rough the 
A large branch of a tree, trimmed down, was put in the 
cage for the foxes to climb oh, and on and about_ this 
they certainly had great sport, especially with the kitten. 
The kitten climbed up on the branch and the fox. 
lay on his back beneath it; then the kitten would hit at ' 
the fox with its paw and the fox would bite at the kitten. 
One day a young chicken wandering about looking for 
flies, saw one on the wire of the foxes' cage ;_ the fox see- 
ing the chicken coming advanced to meet it and stuck 
his nose close to the wire. The chicken pecked at the fly, 
and missing it hit the fox a sharp blow on the nose, and i 
the fox gave a quick jump, quite taken aback at such 
forward and rude manners. 
One day the man who feeds them, knowing the tastes , 
of foxes, carried a live mouse by the tail into the cage, j 
and after letting them smell it, released it. He afterward ^ 
said that no cat could have killed it quicker than they did, ^ 
When some one whom they knew approached the pen, 
the two dogs usually ran to the wire wagging the tail 
and putting back the ears. When the kittens were put in 
the pen, the foxes commonly whined with pleasure or 
excitement. 
They were always ready to play with the end of a rope 
or with a handkerchief, much as a kitten plays with a 
string; watching the end of the rope as it was drawn 
away from them, and then with two or three quick leaps 
overtaking and pouncing on it, pulling back and shaking , 
the string, trying to drag it away, and if succeeding, re-, 
treating with it to the house, where it was played with 
for some time. - 
When admitted to an adjoining pen, which was not' 
roofed over bj wire netting, and in which the fine meshed 
wire did not^' reach to the top of the pen, they often ran 
up the netting and when they reached the top of the fine 
netting, clung there, thrusting their heads through the 
wider openings and looking about. I 
If a quick motion was made by anyone standing near' 
the pen the foxes would often drop flat to the ground, 
as if for concealment. This motion was extremely rapid. 
The foxes like sweet chocolate and sweet things gen-; 
erally, and even the little bitch would come close to one' 
when chocolate was offered to the dogs. 
