ODDS AND ENDS. 1 09 



effective too, as how seldom, when ferreting, 

 do we find rabbits In a burrow smelHng 

 strongly of fox. 



I have once or twice come across a small 

 cub dead, close to an earth, regularly mashed 

 up and bitten all over by either a dog or a 

 fox, and on one occasion quite a large cub 

 w4th Its head hanging by a shred only. 



I am rather Inclined to believe this must be 

 the work of a strange dog fox, perhaps mangy, 

 or the disappointed suitor of the mother of 

 the cubs ! I feel quite certain it is not a 

 strange vixen, as, from what I have said above, 

 it is manifest that vixens do not object to 

 cubs other than their own, and their own 

 fathers will not injure them, as I have on 

 several occasions seen them wnth the cubs at 

 the earth, when they seem to take just as much 

 Interest in them as their mother. 



One vixen that I knew of had very bad 

 luck in this respect with her cubs. She had 

 a fine litter of seven, about the size of rabbits, 

 and well able to take care of themselves In case 

 a dog or anything suspicious came near them, 

 and one day I found one of them lying all 

 mangled In the mouth of the earth, only just 



