MATERNAL DEVOTION OF THE FOX. 
2TT 
The fox is an acute observer of all external circumstances ; he 
has studied the habits of the beasts and the people of his district ; 
he possesses to a high degree the memory of hours, without being 
quite so strong in this line as the dog, who distinguishes the days 
of the week perfectly, and who knows that in the country, butchers 
are accustomed to kill on Saturday. 
Wherever you discern the lair of a fox, you will see the open 
places of the forest where the young family plays around, strewn 
with the thigh-bones of geese or the legs of hares. The young 
foxes are dainty of these toys, and paternal love takes care that 
these charming fancies shall be always satisfied. The wolf-cubs, 
whose jaw is stronger, prefer a leg-bone of mutton to gambol with. 
How many false weights, alas ! and adulterations of provisions are 
made by the paternal love of the grocer, anxious to furnish his 
progeny with all sorts of toys ! What praiseworthy sentiment is 
there which does not cause some villainy in this miserable civil- 
ized society ! 
The mother fox is fall of tenderness and of vigilant care for her 
young ; she seldom leaves the hole during their early infancy ; she 
guides them in their entrance on the career of theft ; she teaches 
them with love the tricks of the trade. Thus is the shopkeeper — 
but I am tired of comparisons — the reader may make them for 
himself. She takes on her own head all the responsibility of the 
dano^er when the voice of the dogs is heard. She offers herself to 
o o 
their pursuit as a devoted victim. 
The young family does not always repay this affection, so tender 
and vigilant, with perfect gratitude. Young foxes, when starved, 
have been known to turn a parricidal tooth against their mother, 
and devour her to a mere skeleton, in holes whose openings man 
had stopped up. I have several times reared foxes that I had 
torn from the love of their parents from the tenderest age. I will 
not say that I have had no fun with them in the course of their 
education ; only I must confess that isolations of friendship with 
these beasts always turned out badly. 
The fox lacks neither writ nor rascality ; on the contrary ; but un- 
fortunately, you cannot rely upon his w^ord nor draw inferences 
from his past conduct. 
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