St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-02-13

- fS
they persisted in their assertions; and
having ear-marked the fox, it was
again taken to Westmoreland and
turned loose in the neighborhood of
Appleby Castle. In hunting the next
year at Hothfield a fox was killed at
that place which proved to be the one
in question, and which had thus twice
found his way from WeStmoreland into
Kent
When it is remembered that the coun-
try traversed is the most populous and
active part of England, / think it will
be conceded that this instance of the
"homing' instinct is very remarkable
This peculiar. faculty, however, 1 do
not think we have any right to claim
as an instance of intelligence. 1t is to
me an ineXplicable faculty which man
can not analyze, because he does not
possess it.
Murray Browne communicated to Dr.
Romanes the following: 81 once, at
Devils Glen, Wicklow, found a fox fast
in a trap by the foot. We did not like
to touch him, but got sticks and poked
at the trap until we got it open. Tho
process took ten minutes or a quarter
of an hour. When first we came up the
fox strained to get free, and looked
frlghtfully savage; but we had not
poked at the trap more than very
short time before the whole expression
of his face changed. He lay perfectly
qniet Though we must at times have
hurt him); and when at last we got the
trap completely off his foot he still lay
quiet and looked calmly at us as if he
knew we were friends. In fact, we had
some little difficulty in getting him to
move away, which he did readily enough
when he chose. Was not this a case of
reason and good sense overpowerins
natural instinct?'
Some years since while hunting in
Northern Michigan, / tried with the
aid of a professional trapper to entrap
fox who made nightly visits to
spot where the entrails of a deer had
been thrown. Although we had tried
every eXpedient that suggested itself
to us we We're unsuccessful. and what
seemed very singular, we always found
the trap sprung. My companion in
sisted that the animal dug beneath it,
and putting his paw beneath the jaw,
pushed down the pan with safety to
himself, but though the appearance
seemed to confirm it, l could hardly
credit his explanation. This year in
another locality of the same region, an
old and experienced trapper assured
me of its correncteSS, and said in con-
firmation that he had caught them,
after they'had made two or three sue
ceSsful attempts to spring the trap by
the simple eXpedient of setting it up
side down, when, of course, the act
of undermining and touching the pan
would bring the paw within the grasp
n hn 10 81
in Mature"
1t was well known that trappers set
guns baited SO that if an animal pulls
the bait the gun eXplodes and kills the
unWary victim. The plan is described
in many books of Northwestern travel,
so that there is no need to enter into
detail here. 1t will, however, be readily
seen that the pull has to be made in
the line of fire directly away from the
gun. 1t will also be understood that
there must be some slack on the line
or string to compensate for changes in
temperature, for line put up wet and
tight would shorten in drying and pull
the trigger of itself. Trappers on the
Hudson tell us that a fox on discover
ing such a trap approaches very care
fully, walks about, as his footprints
show, examining the contrivance, and
then goes to one side and digs a
trench at right angles to the line of fire.
The trench is deep enough to conceal
the body, and thus protect from the
shot, and when the animal is under the
string the slack allowed is sufficient for
him to get his head out Of the way of
danger before he gives pull.
DR.. Romanes relates the experience
of the Arctic explorer, DIR. hae, thus:
Desiring to obtain some Arctic foxes,
DR.. Rea set various kinds of traps, but
as the foxes knew these traps from pre-
viouS experience, he was unsuccessful.
Accordingly he set kind of trap with
which the foxes in that part of the
country were not acquainted. This
consisted of loaded gun set upon 81
stand pointing at the bait. A string
connected the trigger of the gun with
the bait, so that when the fox seized
the bait he discharged the gun, and
thus committed suicide.
'In this arrangement the gun was
separated from the bait by a distance
of about thirty yards, and the string
which connected the trigger with the
bait was concealed throughout nearly
it's whole distance in the snow. The
gun trap thus set was successful in
killing one fox, but never in killing a
second, for the foxes afterwards adopt
ed either of two devices whereby to
secure the bait without injuring them
! selves. One of these devices was to
bite through the string at it's exposed
part near the trigger, and the other de-
| vice was to burrow up to the bait
through the snow. at right angles to
the line of fire, so that, although in
/ this way they discharged the gun, they
escaped with perhaps only a pellet or
| two in the nose.
Now both these devices exhibited a
wonderful degree of what 1 think must
/ fairly be called power of reasoning. l
| have carefully Intercepted DR.. Rae
| on all the circ umstanceS of the case,
and he tells me that in that part of the
world traps are never set with strings;
so that there can have been no special
! association in the foxes minds be-
tween strings and traps. Moreover,
! after the death of No. fox, the track
on the snow showed that fox No. 2,
Notwithstanding the temptation offered
| by the bait, had expended a great deal
| of scientific observation on the gun be-
before he undertook to sever the cord.
! Lastly. with regard to burroWing at
right angles to the line of fire, DR..
! Rae justly deemed this SO eXtraordi-
nary a circumstance that he repeated
the experiment a number of times in
order to satisfy himself that the direc-
ton of the burrowing was really to be
! attributed to thought and not to
| chance
| Such a narrative as this would iii
itself be sufficient to induce US to con-
| cede to Reynard a share of that intel
| ligence which is supposed specially to
| characterize his biped enemies.