THE LIFE OF A FOX. 3

with the services of M. Soyer, and merely added,
for the sake of variety, some fine rats and mice, a
profusion of beetles, and a bird or two for the
few whose taste might be depraved enough to
choose them. Our repast being over, it was
agreed, that for our mutual instruction and enter-
tainment, each in his turn should with scru-
pulous fidelity relate by what arts and stratagems,
or by what effort of strength and courage, he had
eluded and baffled those ruthless disturbers of
our repose, the huntsman and his hounds. I
was first called on to tell the story of my life,
and thus began.