42 FOXES AT HOME. 



them for doing so. In Ireland the magpies and 

 rooks which are hung up in the fields as scare- 

 crows are always taken if there is a Utter hard by, 

 and like gypsies and badgers, foxes greatly 

 appreciate hedgehogs. I have only once known 

 a partridge brought up to an earth for the cubs. 

 I think the foxes keep these delicacies for them- 

 selves when they come across them ; also their 

 eggs, which they invariably eat when they have 

 killed the sitting bird. In this neighbourhood 

 they kill an immense number of squirrels, which 

 abound in the fir woods. 



There is no doubt foxes prefer ''fur" to 

 "feather/' It may be because it is necessary 

 for digestive purposes, and also it must be a 

 nuisance plucking a bird when the feathers keep 

 sticking in their mouths, but the fact remains 

 that in the billet of a wild healthy fox fur will 

 always be found. The food, however, which a 

 vixen brings to her cubs greatly depends on 

 what is easiest to catch on the ground she 

 travels over at night when on the prowl. 



I have known a vixen feed her cubs almost 

 entirely on hens and ducks, varied by an 

 occasional turkey, whilst another close by fed 

 hers on rabbits and squirrels, with a very 



