272 
PASSIONAL ZOOLOGY. 
THE FOX. 
Vile beast — poor cbase. The fox is hunted only to destroy 
him. The English hunt him for the sake of hunting, that is to say, 
for the sake of breaking their necks and of trading in horse-flesh. 
The fox-hunt is hardly worth mentioning for its interest. The 
worst dogs hunt the fox — a man whose nose was somewhat prac- 
ticed could follow him by the scent. The dogs start him in sight 
and open on his track with a formidable din ; the fox either gives a 
fair run or takes refuge in his nearest hole. If it is warm, if this 
first run has lasted more than a quarter of an hour, he cannot long 
remain in his subterranean abode, but is obliged to come out for 
au\ He darts forth amid the hunters and the dogs ; and the chase 
continues to the second earth. 
Post yourself on one of these well-known shelters, place your- 
self under the wind, and the beast will come between your legs in 
the thickest part of the brushwood. 
The fox so cunning in attack, employs little cunning in defend- 
ing himself against the hunter and his dogs. This fact has been 
signalized by St. Ambroise. It is a race whose extermination is 
quite legitimate, for the fox is a terrible fellow for hares, part- 
ridges, pheasants, fawns, and poultry, and is good for nothing to us 
till after his death, for the sake of his skin. That of the blue and 
white foxes of the north is a fur of price. 
But if the fox-hunt offers to true amateurs but a moderate enter- 
tainment, the manner in which the fox hunts is on the contrary a 
curious subject of study, as well as his morals which exactly depict 
those of many civilizees of low estate, of the pickpocket, of the 
sharper, of the cheating salesman. 
If the animals ever go into retail dealing I wager what you 
please that the fox makes the first shopkeeper. 
I have never dissembled my hatred and contempt for tliis race. 
I have destroyed many of them. When I was government ... in 
Africa, and when I surprised one of my subjects in tlie flagrant 
crime of selling adulterated liquors, or the flesh of cattle which had 
died of disease, I began by confining the guilty one in a quiet 
