TURNED-DOWN CUBS. 79 



gone, but how they could have escaped was at 

 first a mystery, until on careful search we found, 

 where the netting had been fastened to a fir- 

 tree which was growing slightly out of the per- 

 pendicular, one of the meshes (about four feet 

 from the ground, where the netting was three- 

 inch mesh) was pressed into a circular shape 

 and two or three little red hairs adhered to the 

 wire, showing where the cubs had climbed 

 the netting by the tree, and squeezed their 

 little bodies out through the same mesh. 

 Whilst examining where the netting was 

 fastened to the ground w^e noticed the track 

 of a vixen in the soft earth outside ; so, profiting 

 by previous experience, that very evening I 

 went straight to the earth where the nearest 

 litter was and found two of the cubs there with 

 the other four, and quite contented, as they were 

 much of a size. I thought at first the other 

 two must be there also, but the next night only 

 the six put in an appearance, and I could see 

 there were no more in the earth ; however, the 

 following night we found the two missing cubs 

 were with the second wild litter, and apparently 

 quite happy, although only half their size. 

 Whilst I was watching, the two wild cubs trotted 



