Abstract
IN your number of August 14 (Vol. viii. p. 302) Mr. E. C. Buck alluded to the curious and interesting instances of instinct and gregarious action in lower animals, and mentioned that this action has been more particularly observed in the case of wolves in India. These remarks remind me of a curious instance of combined action between two foxes for the capture of their prey, which I witnessed myself more than once; and as similar proceedings, on the part of these animals have been so frequently observed in the hilly country of the department in which I reside, I cannot but conclude that the same habit will prevail among them, wherever they are found. The case is as follows:—One of the two foxes, in the pursuit of a rabbit or hare, continued yelping at short aad regular intervals and thus drove the unsuspecting victim in the direction of the appointed bush, where the other fox was concealed and ready to seize its prey as soon as it came within its reach. The capture being effected, they generally divide the prey between them; but if the ambushed fox, in jumping at its prey, has not gained the end in view, the two baffled compeers alternately repeat many times the unsuccessful leap, in order probably to find out the cause of the miscarriage.
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PALADILHE, A. Collective Instinct. Nature 9, 6 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/009006a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/009006a0
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