The sun., 1903-02-22
REYNARD NOT so SLY.
An Old Hunter Thinks the Red Fox's Cum
ming Has Been Exaggernted.

OnnIYGToN, Me, Feb. 2i.--When the
Lord changed the color Of fox's fur from
red to black or gray said Jason Norton,
the aged fox hunter Of Penobscot Valley,
-he gave the favored animals new skill In
self-protection and fitted them out with
brains Of larger capacity.
Il have hunted foxes for more than forty
years and have killed more than thou
sand. OF this number sevonty-tve or
e'glty were cross foxes, whose pelts are
worth from $40 to SIS to-day, fourteen were
black foxes and eight were silver grays
If a red fox was half as cunning as they
say he is, he would neysr be shot ahead OF
the dogs. So long as there il plenty OF
room for fox to run in and the room IA in
a direct line. he can distance the beet dog
! living at tie quarter post and get 30 iar
away in half day that the hunters could
not SEQ him again for a week
But n rcd fox hasn't learned that
straight line IL the shortest distance be-
tween two points. which shows that he has
never studied geometry. As soon as he
hears dog yipping behind him he sits down
and studies bit 10 make sure II he IL the
fox that is picked for the chase.
If he finds out that the dogs are after
announcer IOXi lut SIlluSto a. Siihs lac WA ~
envious and will spend lot OF time in cut
ting across his rivals trail and trying to con-
fuse the dogs.
NO sooner is a red fox sure that he Is Sc
lected tor the hunt than be loses all caution
and devotes his energies 10 having fun with
the dogs. He. CLIMBS up the trunks OF
Leaning trees for the sake Of leaping of
into distant snowdrifts. he teeters along
the top OF rail fences and sneaks down tho
channels OF running brooks, hoping that
the water will kill the scent.
After being funny for time. he will
sit down on a sunny knoll and listen and
laugh to himself TO hear the dogs swear
about him. He will do these tricks until
tn dogs are tired and mad clear through,
a I'd then he will begin TO run in circle
so he can keep the dogs within earshot
all the time.
And this is what finishes him up, for as
soon as the hunters learn that he is moving
in a curve. they calculate the diameter Of
his circuit cut across to head him OF. and
the next time he comes around smiling
at the joke he is playing on the dogs, he is
met in the face with q charge Of double B
shot and he never laughs again.
mo one ever knew black fox or a silver
gray to DO guilty Of such folly. As soon
as fox with a costly overcoat on his back
hears the dogs believing behind him he
sniffs around a bit to learn the direction
of the wind and is of TO windward at the
rate Of thirty miles an hour
As he keeps his nose to the wind all the
time, he can smell out any danger that may
be ahead Of him, and so long as he keeps
running he Is sure that nothing can over
take him from behind. II the dogs happen
to he OF the long-legged kind, such al they
use in England. the fox has to stir his feet
pretty lively for a few hours, but whom
| the dogs grow tired. he les down 10 an
| easy lope Of twelve or fifteen miles an
| hour and does not stop until he is 100 miles
awav.
| Meantime the dogs drop out as they grow
| tired and go wandering about in the woods
| trying TO make a shortcut for home. They
| haul up at farm houses along the way to
rest. and the last one is not captured and
| brought home for a week. BY this time
| the fox will have returned to his old feed
| ing grounds and had a nice long rest SO
| he will he ready for another run.
1T is nv candid bel ef that II all the
| foxes in Maine were put together so we
| could look them over, the blacks and silver
| grays combined would equal the number
| Of reds. They are gaining in numbers
| every wear too. The reason w We do not
| shoot them ia because thoy are wiser and
less humorous than their rod cousins