36 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



and leaves. A space of four or five inches all about the six sides of 

 the box packed with insulating material will retain the heat sufficiently 

 and will absorb dampness. In some cases, a light bedding of earth, 

 leaves, seaweed or marshgrass is given in the winter. 



It is usoial to place pens side by side on both sides 

 Pens and Kennels of an alley about six or eight feet wide,* the fences 

 at the ends of the alley being an additional safeguard 

 against escape. The dog (or male) pen, according to one plan, consists 

 of one end of the common pen and the male is segregated by simply 

 closing the door. According to another plan, the pen for the male is 

 several feet distant and segregation is effected by simply closing the 

 slide door in the passageway. The kennel provided for the dog fox 

 may be a box or barrel with a chute entrance. The dog pen is becom- 

 ing less used year by year. It should be constructed near the other 

 pen and arrangements should be made so that the pairs can be 

 separated quietly. No confusion or excitement whatever in effecting 

 a separation of the male and female at this critical period should be 

 permitted. 



The food of foxes in the wild state does not consist wholly 

 Feeding of flesh as many suppose; for, to a certain extent, the fox 



is omnivorous, and will eat grass and berries. If flesh only, 

 were fed to a ranch fox, the probability is that, after a time, digestion 

 would be greatly impaired and the whole intestinal tract would be- 

 come infested with worms. 



The food varies so much in each locality that it is impossible to 

 do more than state the principles which should govern the feeding of 

 foxes. The very fact that success is achieved with so many kinds of 

 dieting proves that the fox, like the dog, can live well on almost any 

 kind of food. A prospectus of a ranch at Copper Eiver, Alaska, says 

 that the pelts of their foxes have a magnificent sheen because the 

 animals are fed on oily salmon. Ontario ranchers have many excuses 

 to hunt rabbits and groundhogs, because they are ' natural ' food for 

 the foxes. J. Beetz of Piastre Bale, Que., finds fish and lobster good, and 

 his success in catching foxes is largely due to the fact that they come 

 down from the interior each winter to seek just such food on 

 the shore of the St. Lawrence river. And who could tell an old 

 Prince Edward Island rancher how to feed his foxes? ' The best in the 

 house is none too good,' he says, and he will feed them almost every- 



* See diagram facing this page. 



