9 6 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Fhui bf G. W. tVih°n 6f O 



partly to kill off superfluous foxes, partly to educate 

 the young hounds, and to teach the foxes to fear them 

 and to make them leave cover easily. Four or five cubs 



in a litter are commonly seen. The distance which a 

 fox will run is extraordinary. The following is a true 

 account of one of the most remarkable runs ever known. 

 The hounds were those of Mr. Tom Smith, master of 

 the llamhledou limit, lie was 

 the man of whom ai, other famous 

 sportsman said that if he were 

 a fox he should prefer to he 

 hunted by a pack of hounds 

 rather than by Tom Smith with 

 a stick in his hand. The fox 

 was found in a cover called 

 Mark wells, at one o'clock in the 

 afternoon in December, near 

 Petersfield. It crossed into Sussex, and ran into an earth in Grafham Hill a little before dark. 

 The fox had gone twenty-seven miles. The hounds had forty miles to go back to kennel that 

 night, and three only found their way home four days afterwards. Dog-foxes assemble in 

 considerable numbers when a vixen is about in spring, and at all times common foxes are socia- 

 ble creatures, though not actually living in societies. Sometimes as many as five or six are 

 found in a single earth. Two years ago five foxes and a badger were found in one near 

 Romford. They eat mice, beetles, rats, birds, game, poultry, and frogs. Their favourite food 

 is rabbits. If there are plenty of these, they will not touch other game. They hunt along 

 the railway-lines for dead birds killed by the telegraph-wires. In the New Forest they also 

 go down to the shore and pick up dead fish. One in the writer's possession was shot when 

 carrying away a lamb from a sheepfold near the cliffs of Sidmouth, in Devon. The shepherd 

 thought it was a marauding dog, and lay in wait with a gun. 



MOUNTAIN-FOX 



In hilly countries the fox becomes a powerful and destructive animal, ktlhng not w..\ gamt 



but lambs 



The F gnnecs 



Africa has a group of small foxes of its own. They have very large ears and dark eyes. 

 Some of them remind us of the Maholis and other large-eyed lemuroids. Several are nol 



more than 9 or 10 inches long; t In • \ 

 are a whitish-khaki colour, but tin- 

 eyes are very dark and brilliant. 



The Common Fennec is found 

 over the whole of Africa. Its favour- 

 ite food is dates and any sweet fruit, 

 but it is also fond of cl^s. and will 

 eal mice and insects. It is probably 

 the original hero of the story of the 

 fox and the grapes. The large eared 

 fennec. which is sometimes called the 

 Silver Fox, is found from the Cape 

 to as far north as Abyssinia. It is 

 23 inches long, and lives mainly on 

 insects and fruit. 



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