MANGE IN FOXES. 93 



The roof of an artificial earth should he made 

 so low that a fox cannot possibly stand up in it ; 

 many of them, however, have chambers two or 

 three feet high, and these soon become very 

 filthy and full of vermin. Mangy foxes use 

 them as they can sit up and scratch inside, which 

 they could not do in a natural earth, and they 

 very soon become infected and remain so. 



Mangy foxes are those which invariably do 

 the greatest damage ; they find a difficulty in 

 procuring food, and starvation deadens their 

 natural timidity. In broad daylight they 

 will come and take a fowl right under one's 

 nose, and if they can get into a hen roost will 

 kill every bird they can get hold of ; but so will a 

 healthy fox, if pressed by hunger, when he gets 

 a chance. Many attribute this to mere wanton- 

 ness or to their love of killing. I do not, however, 

 think this is so, but that the fox, being ravenous 

 with hunger, fancies that he can never kill 

 enough to satisfy it ; in fact, according to the old 

 proverb, his " eyes are bigger than his tummy.' ^ 



Let no one, not even the M.F.H., the hunts- 

 man, the wife of your bosom, the person you 

 love best in the world — and you are sure to be 

 fond of somebody! — ever persuade you to give 



