THE FOX AS A CAPTIVE 135 



themselves ill. Indeed, fruit was always a favourite 

 food, and the boys of the household used to 

 feed them with gooseberries and grapes. They were 

 very fond of cockchafers, but they loved best of all 

 a rat after it had been buried for a day or two. 

 Curiously enough, they seldom buried their food in 

 the same place. In the winter they were confined 

 in a large outhouse, with blocks of wood hollowed 

 out to sleep in. Sometimes the boys would take 

 out live rats. There was a stealthy gliding movement, 

 a swift paw would come out, and the rat was dead. 



Each spring the vixen produced a litter of cubs, 

 generally from six to eight in number. When the 

 cubs were old enough to leave the mother they were 

 turned into a yard with some greyhound puppies. 

 Dogs and foxes were excellent friends and used to 

 play together. Hide-and-seek was a favourite game, 

 at which the foxes could always beat the puppies. 

 From time to time, one or other of the foxes escaped, 

 and they never failed to signalise their freedom 

 by a great slaughter in a neighbouring poultry-yard. 

 After two or three days, the truant would return. 

 One of the dog foxes, however, which was of a sullen 

 unfriendly disposition, escaped at last and never 

 came back. The other two died in captivity, the 

 dog at ten, the vixen at thirteen years old. It is 



