44 FOXES AT HOME. 



occasion to my knowledge, brought two of them 

 to a sad end. 



A friend of mine whose coverts were infested 

 with cats from a neighbouring village^ not 

 Hking to set traps for these pests, lest he might 

 catch a fox, ordered his keeper one day to 

 poison a few salt herrings and to place them 

 where the cats would be likely to find them. 

 The result of doing so was disastrous, and the 

 reverse of what he wanted, as in the morning a 

 fine dog and vixen fox were found lying dead 

 close to where the herrings had been put down, 

 and which on examination were found in their 

 stomachs. 



That the dog fox will bring food and assist 

 the vixen, on occasions, especially when the 

 cubs are first laid down, or just before, whilst 

 the vixen is lying to ground, is well known ; 

 afterwards they only occasionally seem to come 

 near the earth. When the hounds are still 

 hunting, however, they frequently lie to ground 

 with the vixens and cubs. 



A vixen had laid up her cubs in a wood close 

 to my home, some years ago, and late one 

 evening a neighbour, who lived near the covert, 

 sent word to say he had just come across a wet 



