Fox Preservation Habits, Earths. 519 



siderably from ift. to ift. 6in. The height at the shoulder 

 is about ift. 



The fur becomes thicker and longer in winter, and it is 

 partly shed in the spring. The best skins are obtained 

 towards the end of November, at which time the colouring 

 is in some specimens very beautiful. The preponderance, 

 perhaps, of one colour over another in certain foxes is, 

 no doubt, the real cause of their being called "blue" or 

 red; thus a young fox might be described as of the latter 

 colour, while a rare old stager may have acquired, as the 

 result of old age and the vicissitudes of life, a certain 

 reverend greyness warranting his being termed " blue." 



The fox of the hunting counties is very different in its 

 habits from those in the few portions of the kingdom which, 

 either through their inaccessibility to, or absence of, fox- 

 hounds, remain practically unhunted. The former, except 

 when the dread time comes round, leads a very easy and 

 comfortable life, and has generally a good covert, where food 

 is always plentiful and easily obtained, and where there is 

 but little to disturb or alarm it. In districts where no hounds 

 come, or only put in an appearance once or twice a year, 

 foxes rarely maintain any earth of large size and offering 

 comparative security, but trust entirely for safety, in case 

 of need, to the holt where the cubs are born. In winter, 

 however, when snow is on the ground and frost prevails, the 

 fox is compelled to seek warmth and protection from the cold 

 in such underground retreats as it may have constructed 

 or can find. The earth of the fox shows no great strategical 

 value when opened up, and tends invariably towards the 

 completion of a rough circle of tunnels, between the sides 



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