72 Game and Foxes. 



rabbits to feathered game, they are exceedingly 

 useful, as an endeavour will be made to show. 

 In the midst of these rabbits a litter of cubs 

 should be located, and this may easily be managed 

 even apparently against the will of the vixen. 



A vixen should never be allowed to have her 

 cubs where she prefers, or she may establish 

 herself where her power for harm is doubled. 

 A vixen with a family is not so shy a creature 

 as when pregnant and looking for an earth ; if 

 she be much interfered with in the latter case she 

 may leave an estate altogether and resort elsewhere 

 for a suitable nursery free from interference. All that 

 should be done during the early months of the year 

 is to examine the earths frequently, and carefully 

 watch for signs of a vixen occupying one. For 

 this purpose it is not necessary to see her enter 

 or emerge, as her small round foot-mark is not at 

 all difficult to distinguish from that of the bigger 

 dog-fox ; the impression in the soil is more 

 shallow, because she is not so heavy, and 

 there are few keepers who cannot discern the 

 difference. If the entrance to the earth is small, 

 even her forwardness as regards pregnancy may 

 be determined, for w^ith increasing girth she rubs 

 the sides of the entrance to a greater extent. In 

 the search for vixens do not confine attention to 



