154 FOX-HUNTING 



numbers, cub-hunting is the time to do it, as 

 later on you will find it impossible. Kill all the 

 smallest foxes first and those that look like vixens. 

 You only want one vixen in every covert, but 

 after the first of January you should be careful 

 to see she is spared. All your best runs will 

 come from dog-foxes ; and if you can keep one 

 vixen in a covert, she is certain to have plenty 

 of visitors of the other sex. In order to have 

 the best sport, there ought to be one vixen in the 

 country to every seven dogs, as in that case the 

 males wander about to different coverts, and will 

 consequently give you good runs. In my opinion, 

 one of the chief causes of short-running foxes is 

 a preponderance of females over males. The 

 white tag at the end of the brush is no guarantee 

 of sex, and, of course, it is not easy to distinguish 

 one from the other ; but if you allow all the 

 biggest cubs to go away unmolested and hunt 

 the small ones that stop to the last, you will not 

 be far wrong. The instinct of the dog-fox teaches 

 him to go away at the sound of hounds, whilst 

 that of the vixen bids her stay at home. 



You may occasionally have some good gallops 

 in cub-hunting, and, of course, that is what your 



