THE FOX'S HOME 



but he frequently returns to the same fortress for several 

 years, making a new nest on the top, or by the side, of the 

 old one, bringing in fresh grass and leaves from outside. 

 The young, usually three or four in number, are born in the 

 spring or early summer, and the nest which the female mole 

 makes to serve as a nursery for her little ones is usually 

 quite simply planned and seldom has a bolt run. Her 

 tunnels, on the other hand, often wind about hither and 

 thither in a curious fashion, while those made by the male 

 are driven, as a rule, straight ahead , the reason for the 

 female"^ preference for a tortuous course is unknown to 

 naturalists and perhaps to the moles also. 



The Fox (Canis vulpes) passes a considerable portion of his 

 life in an underground den or " earth," where he is usually 

 free from the persecution of his enemies and can devour his 

 prey in comfort. He shows a marked preference for the out- 

 skirts of a thicket or a stony hillside. Sometimes perhaps 

 even in the majority of cases his dwelling is made entirely 

 by his own efforts, but he is by no means averse from avoid- 

 ing the labour of digging his own den by taking possession 

 of the burrow of some other animal and adapting it to his 

 particular requirements. He very often makes use of rabbit 

 burrows ; the den of a badger, too, offers advantages which 

 induce him to practise grossly unscrupulous acts in order to 

 drive out its rightful owner. 



Reynard has earned the reputation of being the most 

 cunning and cautious of animals, so that it is scarcely sur- 

 prising to find that he is in the habit of providing himself 



with a dwelling which has several outlets, while to make 



f~~' 

 assurance doubly wire he has nearly always more than one 



such den at his disposal. In the case of our English fox, 

 the earth varies more or less in plan according to its origin. 

 Should it happen to have belonged at one time to a badger, 



38 



