THE FELL FOX 39 



cubs should be kept in a roomy kennel or other 

 enclosure, as they become very active and playful, 

 and delight in exercise. 



When their teeth begin to appear, a small 

 quantit}' of meat may be given them. Rabbit 

 flesh with a bit of the skin and fur adhering to ifc 

 is the best. After my cubs were big enough to 

 take meat, they still preferred their milk by 

 suction through a teat, and it required some 

 patience and persuasion before they would lap 

 from a saucer. They were fond of gnawing and 

 playing with bones, and used to growl furiously 

 if I interfered with their food. Absolute cleanh- 

 ness of their abode is of vital importance if the 

 cubs are to grow up healthy and well. Once thej'- 

 begin to feed heartily on meat, water is better for 

 them than milk, and a clean supply should always 

 be within their reach. In a wild state water is 

 their only drink, and flesh, coupled with beetles, 

 frogs, etc., their chief food. Mice, or, rather, field 

 voles are the first creatures which the vixen 

 teaches her cubs to stalk and kill. Both cubs and 

 adult foxes devour quantities of these voles, and 

 spend a good deal of time stalking them. 



A fox stalks a vole in the same way that a cat 

 goes about the business. Wandering along in the 

 moonhght, on the prowl for anything edible, 

 Reynard's unerring nose warns him of the presence 

 of a vole. A few paces ahead of him he sees the 



