FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



foxes. A good proportion of old vixens is there- 

 fore most beneficial to sport in a hunting country. 



The vixen brings her cubs into the world at a 

 season when other furred and feathered creatures 

 are busy with their family affairs. She is there- 

 fore assured of a sufficiency of food for herself 

 and her offspring. A healthy litter of cubs have 

 appetites in proportion, and their parents have 

 to work hard to feed them. 



It is for various reasons sometimes necessary 

 to take up a litter of cubs, and keep them for a 

 while in captivity. As a rule such litters, when 

 of a suitable age, are turned down where they 

 will " do the most good." Now and then one 

 comes across a fox kept solely as a pet ; but, being 

 a wild animal by nature, the fox does not take 

 kindly to life in captivity. A pet fox may be 

 well doing, and in perfect health, but though he 

 is tame enough with the master or mistress who 

 feeds and handles him, he invariably stands in 

 awe of strangers. He is never to be trusted, 

 even in his master's home, and woe betide the 

 feathered inhabitants of the place, should they 

 come within his reach. Charles St. John gives 

 an instance of a captive fox which deliberately 

 set himself to beguile the fowls within springing 

 distance by leaving certain portions of his food 

 as a bait. 



Although captive cubs and adult foxes adapt 

 themselves to circumstances in confinement, a 

 good deal can be learnt about the general habits 

 of the animals by watching them in a roomy 

 enclosure. For instance, a litter which I had 

 under observation for some time never held their 

 heads skywards when barking, although foxes, 

 like dogs, are popularly supposed to do so. They 



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