MINOR FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. 115 
is available, for he can amputate the leg of a fox, administer a dose of medicine, and 
handle a wild animal as well as anyone. 
In order to succeed in the breeding of wild animals, one of the first aims should be 
to induce them to become as gentle as possible. One of the partners has remarked that, 
“it takes a gentle man to rear a gentle animal,’’ and in this we are particularly for- 
tunate in having the services of Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Finch. 
CorraLs.—Considerable time was spent in prospecting the various possible loca- 
tions on Long Island before a final selection of a site was made, and this is a thing 
that should always be given thoughtful consideration when establishing a ranch. The 
ground we finally decided upon is on the top of a low ridge in the thick spruce tim- 
ber and has a slate bed rock lying from 2 to 3 or 4 feet below the surface. This 
location assures us of a well-drained place for the corrals, and even in the season of 
heaviest rain there is no mud under foot. The timber affords the necessary shade 
in summer and protection against the severe weather of winter, and the fact that the 
bedrock is so near the surface makes us doubly secure against the chances of having 
the foxes escape by burrowing. 
In 1914, when the Kodiak Fox Farm was established, the inclosure built for the 
foxes consisted of 12 breeding corrals and 12 male pens. The breeding corrals are 
23 feet wide by 50 feet long, and the male pens are 4 feet wide, placed between the 
corrals, and extending the full length of 50 feet. The plan showing the arrangement 
is illustrated on page 117. 
The fences were built 8 feet above the ground, and it was intended simply to run 
a 2-foot strip of heavy netting around the top to prevent escape of the foxes. Upon 
an inspection of the corrals, however, after the completion of the fence on this plan 
and before the overhang wire was put on, it was decided to cover them completely with 
netting, for it seemed to us that a fox would have but little trouble in escaping from 
corrals constructed as ours were. Consequently, before the animals were put in the 
inclosure, netting of no. 20 wire, 2-inch mesh, was ordered, and the corrals com- 
pletely covered with it. Our fears were well founded, for the first day that foxes were 
put into the corrals one of them escaped by climbing the fence and working a hole 
through the light covering wire. We then ran a strip of heavy wire netting, 2 feet 
wide, around all the corrals, on top of the covering wire and laced to it, and since 
doing so have had no further difficulty. Our mistake was in using too light a wire 
for this purpose, and in the new corrals built this year the fault has been remedied. 
As stated previously, the bedrock where these corrals were built is not more than 4 
feet below the surface. In constructing the corrals, therefore, ditches were dug to 
bedrock, following the lines of the fences, and the posts set so they would extend 8 
feet above the surface. In order to prevent the foxes escaping by burrowing under 
the fence, a strip of heavy wire netting, no. 14 gauge, 2-inch mesh and 3 feet wide 
is securely fastened to the sill that lies on the surface of the ground, and allowed to 
extend to bedrock. In cases where the netting was not quite wide enough to reach 
the bedrock, a log was placed in the bottom of the trench and the lower side of the 
wire was fastened to this. 
For the fences, above ground, two strips of wire netting were used, each 4 feet 
wide and 2-inch mesh. The lower strip is no. 14 gauge and the upper no. 15, and 
the two are joined by being stapled to a center rail of the fence. 
IMPROVED CORRALS BUILT IN 1915.—In the construction of our new corrals, built in 
1915, a number of improvements have been made. (See detailed plan of these corrals 
on p. 116.) Instead of using logs and rails from the woods, sawed timbers have been 
utilized in the construction of these corrals, the result being a considerable saving in 
the cost of labor and a great improvement in the appearance of the ranch. 
An important feature of these corrals is that double-wire fences have been used 
throughout; this as an additional precaution against escape, and also to prevent the 
foxes from being injured by fighting through the wire netting. For the same reason 
