The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-06-24

lulu VI CIlChCtS-duu luSy TAPER So
sharply to point that they can adjust
themselves to every wave of air that
makes the slightest rustic of noise.
Also they can turn in any direction to
catch danger signal or detect the
football or wing motion of prey, here,
there and yonder at one and the same
time. The fox's ears are built to take
in everything that's going on in the
woods or the thicket. and they do it.
"a well bred foxhound will run
from six to ten hours at a pace be.
tween seven and ten miles an hour
when at considerable distance be-
hind fox. At distance of only 100
yards or so in the rear, although he
cannot see the fox, he knows of its
proximity by the warmth of the scent,
and he will then run in his eagerness
to overtake the quarry at the rate of
Is or 20 miles an hour. Such pace
is killing and it can be maintained but
short time.
NOV would you believe it? The
willy fox knows this well. So when he
starts on race in which his mate is
to aid him he keeps but a short dis.
lance ahead of the dogs, but sets q
killing pace.
He keeps this up for eight or ten
miles, gradually circling back to the
starting point. His mate is there, in
the spot where he started from, all
ready and fresh to take up the run
the instant he comes bounding along,
while he leaps from the trail at right
angles and lies concealed in the ken
mel
1.-THE hounds keep right on after the
female fox, ignorant, of course, of the
trick the foxes are playing. She in turn
is relieved by her mate, who starts in
as good as new. This run and rest of
the foxes is kept up without cessation,
so that in two or three hours the dogs,
being kept at high speed, are exhaust
ed and are forced to give up the chase
with yelpings of disappointment.
AT this sound, well understood by
the foxes, the fox that hears it an
swers it with sharp, aggravating,
mocking cries. have seen dogs sneak
home in humiliation and silence after
such defeat and hearing the gloating
of the fox over them, and have known
! them to feel the disgrace of it so that
they wouldn't go fox hunting again for
days.
Mind you, this is the red fox am
talking about. The gray fox is quite
another creature. The red fox is the
beast that gives the fox family it's
reputation for smartness. The gray
fox isn't anywhere near the size of
the red and is a common and vulgar
beast
1.-THE red fox has an eye that can
glare with murderous rage, flashing
fire and vengeance, and he will fight
like a tiger when he has to-. He
stalks his game, he gains it by cum
the eye of sneak. He can't run more
than five hours before the dogs, and
when caught he turns on his back and
whines without resisting his captors.
He is coward and lunkhead.
"The red fox will feign death like
the possum, and even the teeth of the
hounds and flash Of gunpowder have
failed to rouse him from simulated
death. A farmer at Sugar Loaf once
surprised a red fox in his hen houses,
apd the fox, unable to escape, fell on
the floor as If in the throes of death
and apparently died from fright and
the effects of its gluttony, for couple
Of the farmers chickens were inside
of it.
"The farmer, mad all the way
through, gave the stiffened body few
vigorous kicks, and taking it by the tail
chucked it in no gentle manner out in
to the barnyard. The fox had no sooner
struck the ground than it gathered up
its legs and fed like the wind toward
the woods, leaving the farmer nothing
to do, when he could get over his as
constituent, but use some good strong
Sugar Loaf mountain language"