CUBS 



are then partially or wholly hand-reared, in con- 

 sequence of which they know no country, and 

 when turned down just prior to a visit by the 

 hounds, on the arrival of the latter they are 

 chopped. Thus the cubs, certain of which under 

 natural conditions would have escaped, to afford 

 sport later on, are sacrificed to the interests of 

 shooting. Again, the keeper really wishing to 

 do his duty, and in perfectly good faith, refrains 

 from shooting or otherwise destroying the vixen, 

 and instead keeps her so well supplied with food 

 that she has practically no need to hunt for herself 

 at all. The result is, with food always at hand, 

 she ceases to travel any distance in search of it, 

 and her cubs, which in the ordinary course of 

 events would have followed her far and wide on 

 her hunting expeditions, know nothing of the 

 country beyond the restricted area in which their 

 mother spends her time. In this way the stock 

 of foxes rapidly degenerates, and in many in- 

 stances disease makes its appearance, owing to 

 the cubs being kept in uncleanly surroundings. 

 It is the old vixens which are so vital to the 

 proper education of cubs, for they possess the 

 knowledge of country and general experience of 

 life, that is lacking in the younger members of 

 their sex. With their gradual disappearance, 

 maternal duties fall entirely on the younger 

 vixens, which are not half so capable of bringing 

 up cubs in the way they should go. 



The vixen generally, but not invariably, lays 

 up her cubs underground. She often enlarges 

 a rabbit burrow for the purpose, or takes pos- 

 session of a chamber in a badger earth. In some 

 districts, stub-bred foxes are not at all uncommon. 

 Hill-foxes usually resort to rocky cairns for cub- 



37 



