38 FOXHUNTING ON LAKELAND FELLS 



I photographed him and his vulpine pal, he ran a 

 long wet drain and collared his fox at the end of it, 

 hounds having forced Reynard to ground. 



I have previously said that fox cubs are 

 easy to rear, and in a way they are, depending, 

 however, on their age when taken from the 

 breeding earth. When very young, say two 

 or three days old, they are quite helpless, being 

 both blind and toothless. At this stage of 

 their existence they should be fed on milk. If 

 a rubber teat with a very smaU aperture is used, 

 they will learn to suck warm milk through it. At 

 first I used to give cubs diluted milk, but they 

 seem to thrive on new milk quite as well. When 

 very young, the body covering of a cub is mouse- 

 colour, but even at this tender age the tiny 

 tail — ^hardly to be called a brush — often shows 

 a white tip. Very young cubs must be kept 

 warm, otherwise they are apt to chill and die 

 suddenly. As they grow older, artificial heat 

 may be dispensed with. Cubs open their eyes 

 fuUy when about three weeks old, and at 

 first their eyes are bluish-grey in colour. At 

 something over three weeks the eyes begin to 

 assume the amber hue of the eyes of the adult, 

 and the coat commences to turn from mouse- 

 colour to brown. At five weeks the cub can walk 

 in rather a wobbly sort of way, but the legs 

 rapidly gain strength. From this stage onward. 



