Ho7v to Manage a Vixen and Her Cicbs. 77 



reason. Wise mother that she is, she recognises 

 that a day will arrive when, with all her energy 

 and skill as a hunter, she will be unable to supply 

 the wants of her cubs, and they will be compelled 

 to forage for themselves ; she also knows they will 

 not have her store of knowledge to draw upon to 

 assist them in procuring food, and so, for their future 

 benefit, she leaves alone the store close at hand. 

 The rabbits near the earth become accustomed 

 to seeing the old vixen ignore their presence as 

 she passes to and fro, and they grow to regard 

 her as more or less harmless ; but dearly wuU 

 they pay for their misplaced confidence in foxes 

 and present immunity from attack when her 

 cubs begin to hunt on their own account. For 

 all this, she will kill rabbits a few hundred yards 

 away and bring them to the earth, the ease wath 

 which they may be procured often tempting her 

 to spend time thus which might otherwise be 

 employed in seeking more valuable game. 



In these days farmers consider they possess an 

 interest in rabbits on their holdings, and object 

 to having a litter of cubs located near a flourishing 

 colony w^hich is regarded as a source of future 

 revenue. Of course, a farmer cannot interfere 

 with rabbits in a covert, but, if a vixen is known 

 to be taking rabbits from burrows in the field- 



