WOOL- AND FUR-BEARING ANIMALS 267 



was sudden death to any fowl that went within reach of his chain ! 

 One day some one on the estate was passing through the yard when 

 his Terrier (who was very keen on Cats) hustled one of the farm 

 Cats near Reynard's kennel. It proved too near, for he sprang out, 

 seizing her across the shoulders and killing her instantly. My friend 

 told me he had lost five or six Cats in the same way, and I have 

 heard since that this Fox got so bad at this kind of thing that his 

 kennel had to be enclosed with wire. Although he was well and 

 regularly fed his love of slaughter seemed as if it could not be 

 resisted when the opportunity came. 



Tame, or so-called tame, Foxes are by no means rare. There is 

 always a demand for them in most of the Midland hunts, not only 

 for litters of cubs, to turn down in the Summer for the Winter's 

 hunting, but also for old Foxes to release late in the hunting season, 

 where the supply has become exhausted through too many being 

 killed by hounds, or more likely still, where some shooting man, 

 who has kept his coverts closed to hounds until the end of the 

 shooting season, and who never keeps a good wild Fox if he can 

 help it, through fear of losing some of his game, does not like to 

 have the reputation of being drawn blank when his coverts are open 

 to hounds. 



Such a Fox as he turns down has probably been shut up ever 

 since it was a small cub and not released until hounds are perhaps 

 in the neighbourhood. Should an animal like this be lucky enough 

 to escape being killed by hounds his future is not likely to be a very 

 happy one, for he will be anything but favourably situated. In the 

 first place, he has never had the chance of learning the ways and 

 means of getting his own living; and, secondly, he is thrown on his 

 own resources at a time of year when the food supply is at its lowest. 

 Consequently, he is driven by hunger to pick up all sorts of filth, and 

 there is no wonder, under such circumstances, that we hear so much 

 of mangy Foxes in these days. Litters of cubs turned down in the 

 Summer, and artificially fed, are nevertheless also sources of mange. 



Outside the British Islands, the Common Fox is found, with 

 slight variations in colour, size and strength, throughout Europe, 

 Northern and Western Asia, and Northern Africa, whilst in India 

 and North America allied species are forthcoming. It is mainly 

 reddish-brown in colour, with white underneath and on the tip of 

 the tail ; the outer parts of the ears and some parts of the limbs are 

 frequently black. The fine bushy tail gives the animal an imposing 



