- THE FELL FOX 33 



leaving his retreat. I remember on one occasion 

 seeing a fox curled up on a ledge quite bare of 

 cover, in a crag overlooking the Deepdale valley. 

 Hounds were questing for a drag far below. I was 

 talking to another man at the time, yet that fox 

 lay there and never stirred even an ear. Finally, 

 I threw a stone at it, which bounced off the rock 

 above it, making considerable noise. Still that 

 fox lay on, as if deaf and blind. The next stone, 

 however, was better aimed, and it rolled a few 

 feet right on top of the fox. That woke him up, 

 and he tarried not on his going. He must either 

 have been asleep, or could not have heard or 

 winded us. There was a stiffish breeze at the 

 time, which may have had something to do 

 with it. 



I have onty once seen a breeding earth actually 

 in a crag. The vixen had chosen for her retreat a 

 crevice in the face of the rock ; the ascent to 

 which was by no means easy. That the cubs had 

 been well fed there was abundant evidence in the 

 shape of pheasants' tail feathers, bones, etc. 

 These birds had been caught and killed in the 

 dale below, and had been carried by the vixen for a 

 considerable distance. Dog-foxes fight amongst 

 themselves; these battles no doubt taking place 

 in spring, when they travel long distances to visit 

 the vixen of their choice. I have in my possession 

 the mask of a big dog-fox — he weighed over seven- 



D 



