Bloomsburg democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1867-1869, 1868-04-15
The Fox.

| Of the many species OF this animal to be
found in all parts Of the world, the natura-
lists assign seven to this continent-the sill
yer gray or black, the red, the cross, the
swift, the gray, the coast, the prairie and
the arctic fox. The first named Of these.
the silver gray or black, is exceedingly rare,
and furnishes the most valuable fur known
to commerce, single skins selling in London
for two hundred dollars gold-each. To
sportsmen, however, the red and the gray
are the most interesting species. We have
no conception in this country Of the trouble
and expense to which the hunting men in
England put themselves for supply Of fox
es. They will set aside lands worth thous.
and dollars an acre to agriculture to make
artificial covers for foxes, as many as thous-
and of which were imported in lS49. A
single individual, q celebrated muster of
hounds in the South Of England, gave an
unlimited order to Philip Castang, the well
known dealer in Leadenhall, to stock his
country through his agents in Holland,
France, Germany and Scotland, Castang got
together seventy five brace Of foxes, which
were all turned down in one neighborhood.
There was very perccptiblo difference in
the appearance Of these foxes, due, doubt.
less, to their different nationalities. Hol-
land continues to supply the greatest num-
ber. and they reckoned in England the best
of the foreign foxes. ,..
Naturalists are clearly mistaken, as all
Southern hunters know, in the assertion
that red foxes are found everywhere on
this continent, for there is not better au-
thenticatcd fact, that the first red foxes seen
in Maryland were imported by our fox hunt
ing ancestors from England long before the
revolution, and turned down on the east
ern shore of the Chesapeake; to which
section Of the State they were confined for
several years, until; during an unusually
severe winter, they crossed the bay on the
ice to the western shore; they were certain
ly no red foxes in Mississippi as late as 1889,
for the writer hunted there regularly three
times week, for five seasons, and never
saw one. Wherever the red makes his
appearance the grey disappears sooner or
later, the red drives him out and where
the two exist together, in the same neigh
borhood, the grey falls victim to the
hounds, where the red, from the superior
staunchness and game, more frequently es-
capes. ..ra.r.7,s.,-...g .rsr
The supplantiug Of the grey by the red
fox is much to be regretted. An ordinary
pack Of hounds can generally kill the for
mer in from one to two hours, and his man
ner Of doubling in circles and rarely running
more than four or five miles from the start
ing point, affords much better sport than
the red fox, who will frequently make bee
line Of from twenty, reaching even to fifty
miles from the spot where he is bounced.
To kill greys we want musical dogs Of me-
dium speed, packing well together; for the
red, your dogs cannot be too fast, if they
will but keep the line of scent; tofind these
two qualities combined is difficult to do
Turf Field and Farm. i{ .,. q
GENUINE ELooUENCE. There are no
people in the world with whom eloquenoe
! is 50 universal as with the Irish. When