THE FOX 111 



during his life which has been much devoted to 

 these subjects generally, and that was most remark- 

 able. It was related to him by the Hon. William 

 Gage, who actually saw a litter of young foxes, 

 about one month old, in the month of February 

 1832, in one of his covers in Hampshire. For- 

 tunately for the pleasure of fox-hunting, this is 

 a solitary exception, but of which there can be 

 no doubt, as they were brought in by the keeper, 

 and were often seen afterwards. It is no less 

 certain, that it is an almost unheard-of circum- 

 stance for a fox to breed earlier than about the 

 general time mentioned above ; otherwise instances 

 must have occurred to disprove this assertion. 

 The cubs would be discovered in some way, either 

 by accident or when digging out a fox ; or keepers 

 and earth-stoppers would see that the earths were 

 used by cubs. Nothing of the sort ever occurs 

 until the beginning of the month of March, when 

 the earths are drawn by the vixens ; and about 

 the end of the month and in April, cubs are fre- 

 quently found above ground in the New Forest. 

 Several instances have occurred when the vixen 

 fox has been seen to steal away from a furze cover, 

 carrying a cub in her mouth, when she has heard 

 the hounds drawing ; and nothing is more common 

 than for a vixen to remove her cubs, when they 

 have been disturbed, or the place visited by any 



