Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-01-28
Toxey.

In late fox hunt in New York, an
old fox finding the dogs holding persist
emily to all the windings of his trail,
would have sped away to another hill
or wood a mile or so eff, and would
have crossed newiy-ploughed fields,
the fresh earth leaving no tell-tale
scent, would have aken to travelled
highways, where dust, and the hoofs OF
horses, and the footsteps of men COM
bine TO obliterate the traces of his pas
sage; or have trod gingerly along many
lengths of a fence, and then have
sprung of at right angles with it to the
ground, ten feet away; and then, per-
haps, have run through flsck of sheep
the strong odor of whose feet blOts out
the scent of his. These artifices be-
wilder and battle the young dogs but
only delay the elder. who know of old
the tricks of foxes. Nothing can be
more admirable than the manner of his
working as ne comes 10 the edge of the
ploughed field. He wastes no time in
useless pottering among the fresh-turn-
ed burrows, but with rapid lopes skirts
their swarded border, till, at far cor
ner, his speed slackens as his keen nose
catches the scent again in the damp
grass; he snuffs it an instant to assure
himself, then sounds loud, melodious
note, and goes on baying at every lope
until the road is reached. Along this
he zig-zags till he finds where the fox
has left it. 'Now comes the puzZling
bi. OF fence. The old dog thinks the
fox has gone through it; he goes
through himself, but finds no scent
there; puzzles about rapidly, now
trying this side, now that; at last he
bethlnks himself of the top, to which he
chambers and there finds the missing
tail. But his big feet cannot tread the
'giddy footing of the rail as could
Reynard's dainty pads, so down he
goes and tries on, either side for the
point where the fox left the fence.
Ranging up and down, zoo near it TO
hit the spot where Reynard struck the
ground, he fails TO recover the scent,
stops, raises his nose and utters long,
mournful howl, half vexation, half de-
spair. Now he climbs to the top rail
further on and snuffs it there. NO
taint OF fox's foot is here so reasons,
'and he must have jumped from the
fence between here and the place where
found it; and acting on this logical
conclusion he circles widely till he has
picked up the trail once more, and goes
merrily on TO the sheep pasture. "Here,
satisfying himself Of the character OF
this trick, he adopts the same plan en-
2loyed at the pIoughed field, and, after
little, finds the :rail on The other side
and follows 1t to the hill, but more
slowly now, for the fox has been gone
some time; the fIost has melted, the
moisture exhaling and the scent grow
ing cold. The fox has long since reach
ed the hill, and half circlcd it, and
now hearing the hounds so far away,
and so slowly nearing, has bestowed
himself on the mosSy cushion of a
knoll for rest and cogitation. Here he
lies for half hour or more, but al
ways alert and listening, while the
dogs draw slowly on, now almost losing
the trail on dry ledge, now catching
it In a moist, propitions hollow, till at
last a nearer burst warns poor sly
boots that he must again up and away.