THE FOX 75 



vision of nature ; but unless a certain amount of 

 care is exercised she may get killed in covert. 

 If hounds are out of blood, a huntsman is not 

 to be trusted always in the matter of vixens, 

 and the master should see to this himself after 

 the first of March. 



When the cubs are six or seven weeks old 

 they will come to the mouth of the earth and 

 eat any dainty bit of game that their mother 

 may bring them. At three months the vixen 

 will have generally moved them to a covert, if 

 the earth is elsewhere, and then they will begin 

 to hunt for themselves, though I think it is 

 more for fun and the following of a natural 

 instinct than to get food. 



In countries where dry sandy earths are scarce 

 the vixen has her cubs in a hollow tree or some 

 convenient sheltered spot, but they are always in 

 danger of being killed by a wandering sheep-dog, 

 and it is safer to make earths, which they will 

 generally use. There are many objections to 

 artificial earths, and I think the greatest is that it 

 gives the fox-stealer a very easy chance of carrying 

 on his nefarious trade. They also are a means of 

 spreading the mange, but directly this disease 



