MANGE IN FOXES 



97 



scarce, I suppose he came to the conclusion 



a mangy one was better than none at all ! 



He now suspected something was wrong, as he 



stole up to the earth and had a good look at 



where the traps were set, and then started back 



from them, and sat down and waited for a few 



minutes, but seeing that the vixen did not come 



out he eventually trotted away. We watched 



the earth for three nights, but the vixen would 



not come out, though we could see where 



she came up and scraped the earth back 



from the traps on the Inside. On the morning 



of the fourth day we found the earth scraped 



away on the outside also, until the fox's claws 



had actually touched the traps ; this could 



only have been done by the dog, and the 



traps now were high and dry on the top of 



a little bank of earth, over which the vixen 



must have jumped when she found she could 



do so with impunity. She came up to the 



earth that evening, but did not attempt to 



jump In, as It would have been almost 



impossible to do so without dropping her 



hind legs on to the traps, and as I did not 



want the poor little cubs to die of starvation 



(though I meant to do away with them as 



H 



