42 FOXHUNTING ON LAKELAND FELLS 



became really tame. The wilder they are before 

 being given their liberty the better, from a hunting 

 point of view. 



Despite their furious battles, cubs can stand a 

 tremendous lot of knocking about without sustaining 

 any real hurt, and doubtless these struggles fit them 

 for making their way in the world later in life. 



Roughly speaking, the vixen lays down her 

 cubs some time in March, though on the fells 

 htters are apt to be later than in the low country. 

 With a family of cubs to feed, it is not surprising 

 that the fell fox now and then takes to lamb- 

 kilUng. If rabbits are not fairly handy to the 

 earth, and lambs are, the vixen will often pick up 

 the latter when new-born, and carry them off. 

 Sometimes she will kill more than she really needs, 

 and then the farmer sends for the hounds, and 

 a May fox dies. 



If the vixen thinks that the whereabouts of the 

 breeding earth has been discovered, she will 

 promptly remove her offspring elsewhere, often to a 

 much stronger and safer retreat. 



It is not surprising that foxes, being so remark- 

 ably active, are good climbers. I once paid a visit 

 to four well-grown cubs in a roomy dog kennel, 

 which was divided down the centre by iron raihngs. 

 The lower half of this partition was covered with 

 wire netting, and the cubs when at play used 

 to fly up the wire and squeeze themselves 



