230 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



given to these malpractices, and put fresh men in 

 their places, telling them, unless they kept plenty 

 of game for himself and friends, with foxes also, 

 for the amusement of his neighbours, they would 

 not continue very long in his service ; and to 

 show his determination about the preservation of 

 the latter, he gave several young cubs at the spring 

 of the year to his head keeper, with directions to 

 put them into the main earths, and there feed them 

 with rabbits until they could provide themselves. 

 We need scarcely mention that the hounds never 

 afterwards drew those coverts blank. 



In turning down cubs, certain precautions are 

 necessary to insure their safety, and before being let 

 loose they ought to be kept, until two months old, in 

 some large airy building, with a few faggots in one 

 corner, or a box — not one ever used by dogs — to 

 hide themselves under. If taken very young, new 

 milk must be given them night and morning, and 

 a young rabbit or two, skinned, left for their 

 supper at night. If of good size, then water will 

 be better ; but it must be clean and fresh every 

 day, and clean hay or straw for their bedding, to 

 be changed every other day. In their natural 

 state, foxes are of very cleanly habits, and if 

 neglected or confined in too small a place when 

 young, they will become mangy, and certainly die 

 when turned out. The mange in these animals is 

 of a very different character to the disease so 

 common to dogs. It generally affects the back, 

 loins, and brush in the form of large scabs, the hair 

 falls off, and we have rarely known an instance 



