CHAPTER VIII 



OF THE FOX AND OF HIS NATURE 



The fox is a common beast and therefore I need 

 not tell of his making and there be but few gentle- 

 men that have not seen some. He hath many 

 such conditions as the wolf, for the vixen of the 

 fox bears as long as the bitch of the wolf bears 

 her whelps, sometimes more sometimes less, save 

 that the vixen fox whelpeth under the earth 

 deeper than doth the bitch of the wolf. The 

 vixen of the fox is a saute ^ (in heat) once in the 

 year. She has a venomous biting like a wolf and 

 their life is no longer than a wolf's life. With 

 great trouble men can take a fox, especially the 

 vixen when she is with whelps, for when she is 

 with whelps and is heavy, she always keeps near 

 her hole, for sometimes she whel-peth in a false hole 

 and sometimes in great burrows and sometimes in 

 hollow trees ^ and, therefore she draweth always near 

 her burrow^ and if she hears anything anon she 

 goeth therein before the hounds can get to her. 

 She is a false beast and as malicious as a wolf. 



1 The term used by Turbervile (p. i88) is "goeth a 



clicqueting." 



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