FOXES OF THE HILLS 179 



below, and every time she did so the cubs bolted 

 into the den. After this had gone on for the better 

 part of an hour, the vixen got up and proceeded 

 in her stealthy way along the hill -face, and as she 

 left them the cubs retreated to their stronghold 

 and appeared no more. With the glass I followed 

 the vixen on her promenade for more than half 

 a mile to a spot, doubtless well known to her, 

 where lay the carcase of a deer. This she began 

 to tear with every appearance of ravenous hunger, 

 but the keeper, who was well acquainted with foxes 

 and their ways, assured me that in reality she 

 was laying in, a load of flesh which on her return 

 to the den she would disgorge for the benefit of 

 her young. 



I did not see the return. An assistant keeper 

 coming down the glen, and making straight for 

 the den, alarmed the mother, and all prospect 

 of coming to close quarters with her vanished till 

 dusk, when she would attempt to reach and feed 

 her family, even at some peril to herself. Crossing 

 over to the den we found an interesting sight. 

 The main entrance, where a huge boulder rested 

 upon several smaller stones, was a considerable 

 cavity, and within it, on well-beaten ground, which 

 smelt vilely, lay a curious assortment of predatory 

 evidence. There was the leg of a full-grown 

 deer, doubtless taken from an animal which had 

 died ; the hind-quarters of a deer calf, the con- 

 dition of the feet proving that it had never walked ; 

 the four feet of a lamb ; the feet of a hare ; 

 many fragments of rabbits ; grouse wings and 

 feathers in abundance, and, strangest of all, a 



