114 WOODLAND CREATURES 



is situated in a layer of sand, with a stratum of 

 clay above. The latter keeps the abode dry, 

 while the sand affords easy digging. In such a 

 spot she soon excavates a proper earth. But 

 circumstances alter cases, and among the mountains 

 a crevice in the rocks may have to content her, 

 but even in such districts there are usually well 

 recognized fox earths; for instance, on the Lake- 

 land Fells there are great " borrans " that have 

 been the refuge of foxes for many succeeding 

 generations, and in which cubs are reared annually. 

 As said before, circumstances alter cases, and there 

 is one district, a certain far-extending tract of 

 woodland, where it is not uncommon for cubs to 

 be born and reared above ground. The under- 

 growth is very thick, and a vixen will sometimes 

 make her nursery in its most impenetrable 

 recesses, and therein rear her family as a hare 

 rears her leverets in a form. 



Of course vixens often move their litters ; indeed, 

 it is only necessary for a person to go near an 

 earth in which there are cubs to make the old 

 fox carry them off the next night. That fear of 

 man, and all his works, which is so strongly im- 

 planted in every wild creature is doubly intensified 

 in the anxious mother, and at the least hint of 

 interference she picks up her cubs, taking them 

 one at a time, and carries them to one of the 

 many holes within her beat. 



This mention of moving cubs reminds me of a 

 story told me by an ex-gamekeeper. " My late 

 master didn't like too many foxes about," he 



