20 2 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



his spouse, as the old-time biographers would say. They 

 have been left in the earth by a passing angel, madame 

 explains. Her husband forgets the scolding he had pre- 

 pared for her for sending him on a fool's errand, and goes 

 off and kills a farmer's lamb to celebrate the event. The 

 good Lord keeps the cubbies' eyes darkened for ten days, or 

 they might wander away from the fireside and perish, and 

 madame has stored up a good supply of fat on her own body, 

 from whence her babies may draw should the larder run 

 low. The same over-ruling Providence, as Mr. Thomas 

 Smith's fox points out, brings the family into the world at 

 a season of the year when their favourite food, young rab- 

 bits and beetles, is most abundant. Not only is no vixen 

 ever hunted in these days, but some huntsmen maintain 

 that no dog-fox should be hunted after the first of April, as 

 madame needs him to do odd chores about the house and 

 assist in keeping the supply of food sufficient for the increas- 

 ing wants of the family. 



It is generally believed that the dog-fox may be distin- 

 guished from the vixen by the white tip on the end of his 

 brush. The fox above quoted says this is not an infallible 

 sign, however. " I, a dog-fox," he says, " and one of my 

 brothers, and also one of my sisters, had it [the white tip], 

 whilst the other sister and the other brother were alto- 

 gether without it, not having a single white hair. My 

 brother has been known to profit by the exception when 

 on being viewed in the spring of the year the hounds have 

 been stopped with the remark, ' It is a vixen ; there is no 

 white in her brush.' I have since observed that old male 

 foxes are of a much lighter colour on the back than are 



