FOXES. 157 



ones, which he did with arsenic rubbed into the 

 paunch of a fresh killed animal. When they 

 were dead, hunger at length drove the cubs out, 

 and they were either taken in nets or the pit- fall. 

 When he had accidentally secured a young fox, 

 without destroying the parents, these, on hearing 

 the cry of their cub, would come almost close up 

 to him, evincing the greatest anxiety and distress, 

 and uttering plaintive cries. Indeed the affection 

 of foxes for their young is quite extraordinary, 

 and the person I have referred to assured me, that 

 when they have considered their cubs to be in 

 danger, or the place of their retreat to have been 

 discovered, they have conveyed them to con- 

 siderable distances in their mouths. Foxes have 

 so much sense, that when infested with fleas, 

 they have been known to cover themselves with 

 water, except their head, in which place the fleas 

 necessarily took shelter, and from whence they 

 were readily shaken off. In doing this they re- 

 treat gently backwards into the water. 



A fox kept in a kennel in the yard of an inn 

 at Girvan in Ayrshire, where they were some 

 poultry, which he probably eyed with a con- 

 siderable wish to make his prey, had recourse 

 to the following plan to secure one or two of 

 them occasionally. When the servant brought 

 his food he would eat a part of it, but leave some 

 scattered about. He then retreated into his 



