Ground Vermin Foxes and Poultry. 357 



" if he'd only had a gun, he might have given Mr. Fox a 

 broadside." Whether the varmint got an inkling of this 

 murderous intent or not, we cannot say, but the " goings on " 

 did not occur again. 



Sometimes foxes come from a considerable distance to 

 forage in certain plantations, while at others they confine 

 themselves strictly to certain rather narrow limits ; but the 

 general course is for the fox to choose a rather wide area 

 for the exercise of his depredations, extending the limits 

 as the locality may be undisturbed and quiet, or, on the 

 other hand, continually passed and repassed by human beings 

 and dogs, which latter have an uncommonly depressing 

 influence on foxes, and one rarely finds them lie in coverts 

 continually entered by dogs chasing rabbits or searching for 

 game. Occasionally foxes will commit their marauding in 

 wonderfully close proximity to dwelling houses, where 

 there are dogs and persons about, but this rather audacious 

 behaviour is not at all a characteristic of the animal. 



When they attack poultry houses, they most often choose 

 those which are most distant from the house of the 

 owner, or from the place where any dogs are about; and 

 when such an attack occurs, and an entrance is effected, 

 woe betide the farmer's fowls and ducks. It seems almost 

 ridiculous to what broken-down old shanties the poultry 

 on some farms are driven for shelter and, presumably, 

 security, at night, and while the door is securely bolted and 

 padlocked, there are perhaps a dozen places where a fox 

 could obtain easy ingress. And yet we continually hear 

 the foxes maligned for obtaining food and committing havoc 

 in poultry sheds which offer no more opposition to the 



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