THE CUB AS HUNTER 



His hunting varies with the locality in which 

 he resides. If his home is on the sea cliffs, he 

 prowls about the shore in search of shell fish or 

 other marine tit bits. In the same way near a 

 river he learns to visit the shallow pools where the 

 trout can be scratched out, and no doubt on 

 occasion he makes a meal off the remains of a 

 salmon left there by a wandering otter. In 

 spring he haunts the ground beneath the tall elm 

 trees, in whose upper branches the rooks build 

 their nests. After a gale, many half-fledged 

 youngsters are blown out, and these the fox 

 finds and disposes of with relish. During a hard 

 winter, when the countryside is frozen beneath 

 an iron grip, birds and animals are numb with 

 cold, and temporarily tame with hunger, so that 

 the fox has no difficulty in securing all the food he 

 wants. 



In early spring another form of hunting — one 

 that appeals to him more than any other — 

 occupies a portion of his time. We all know the 

 old saying, " In spring a young man's fancy 

 lightly turns to thoughts of love," and so it is 

 with our friend the fox. In that oldest of hunting 

 books, " The Master of Game " it says : " And 

 when the vixen is assaute (in heat), and goeth in 

 her love to seek the dog fox she crieth with a 

 hoarse voice as a mad hound doth, and also when 

 she calleth her whelps when she misses any of 

 them, she calleth in the same way." Many a 

 time in very early spring, long before the snow 

 has left the hills have we heard the foxes calling 

 far up the mountain side. At such times love 

 and love alone occupies the mind of the fox. 

 Food and rest are forgotten in the eagerness of 

 courtship, and nothing will drive the dog fox 

 from the vicinity of his inamorata but the advent 



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