88 A HUNTING CATECHISM 



Mr. J. G. Elsey has favoured me with the 

 following observations, the result of long experi- 

 ence when watching foxes at home and at their 

 ease, which will, I am sure, afford as much 

 pleasure to others as they have done to my- 

 self :— 



" Foxes are really very interesting animals, and 

 there is much to be learned by studying their 

 habits. I find by experience I can nearly 

 always tell for certain whether I have a litter of 

 cubs anywhere on my place by looking round 

 about the 14th to the 20th May. They are 

 especially easy to tell after a heavy dew or slight 

 rain. 



" By the date mentioned the cubs in this part 

 of the world (Lincolnshire) begin to paddle 

 about outside the hole, and tread flat the mouth 

 of it, and a little of the surrounding herbage, but 

 if you are in doubt take note if there is a blue- 

 bottle or two buzzing in and out of the earth ! 

 In a few days it will be plain to see if cubs are 

 really there, for there will soon be parts of rats, 

 their skins, and perhaps a few feathers to go 

 by ; and then several young rabbits, or their 

 mangled remains, will be found, and even a dead 

 field mouse or two as well. 



" Old Foxy Todd, a fox-keeper of Mr. Chaplin 

 when he hunted this part of the Blankney 

 country when I was a boy, (Foxy Todd still 

 lives near here), tells me that when he had 

 several litters to look after and to count the cubs, 

 he used to be near the earth where the litter was 

 very early in the morning, almost before it was 

 light, and see what the old foxes would bring the 

 cubs, both dog and vixen in most cases helping 

 to feed the family. It was wonderful how hard 



