FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



the fox's palate, fruit and insects, more parti- 

 cularly beetles, are regularly on the bill of fare. 

 Anyone who walks far along a sheep-path or trod 

 in hilly country, can hardly fail to discover a 

 certain amount of foxes' excrement. If the latter 

 be examined in the Spring and Summer, it will 

 often be found to consist almost entirely of wing 

 cases and other hard portions of beetles. A 

 species of black beetle is extraordinarily plentiful 

 on the hills in warm weather, and the foxes are 

 very partial to it and its kind. An occasional 

 change of diet is no doubt quite as beneficial to a 

 fox as to a human being, and for this reason 

 foxes show a liking for insects and fruit. They 

 devour frogs greedily, but I think they leave frog 

 spawn severely alone. At any rate I have 

 found spawn lying on hill-paths much used by 

 foxes, and I am pretty sure that this spawn had 

 been discarded by them, after making a meal of 

 the frogs which they had carried to the paths to 

 devour. In the opinion of a farmer friend, foxes 

 devour the big black slugs so often met with, 

 but I have no further evidence to support this 

 statement. The fox will eat fish when he can 

 get it, and the carcass of a dead sheep or 

 other beast often serves him for a meal. I^ike 

 a dog, he buries food for future consumption, 

 generally leaving some portion of the tit-bit 

 showing above the covering of earth. It makes 

 little difference to a fox whether his food is fresh 

 or distinctly " high." I think it is safe to say 

 that the vixen will not kill in the vicinity of the 

 earth, unless compelled to do so, for fear of ex- 

 posing the whereabouts of her cubs to prying eyes. 

 Not only has she to feed herself and keep up her 

 strength — the cubs being a great drain on her 

 system at birth and for some time after — ^but 



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