General Remarks. 95 



On cold, rough nights, even the old foxes on 

 leaving their earths in search of provender will be 

 tempted to console themselves with an easily- 

 caught rabbit, as they may afterwards quickly get 

 back to shelter and comfort. A vixen's favourite 

 food for her cubs is young rabbits, particularly 

 when her youngsters are first taking to a fiesh 

 diet ; the numerous nests of rabbits she scratches 

 out and carries to the earth prove this, and in the 

 covert containing her litter rabbits may be relied 

 upon not to increase at a very speedy rate during 

 the first few weeks of the cubs' existence. Hunt- 

 ing men may agree in condemning the presence of 

 rabbits in a fox-covert, but if a friend of both 

 hunting and shooting wishes to do all he is able 

 for the two sports, he should be permitted to 

 follow the plan he considers the wiser and better 

 without being subject to criticism more or less 

 hostile. 



It is doubtful if a fox ever scratches out an 

 earth in solid soil, for the burrow of some other 

 creature is in nearly every case adopted as a 

 basis. The deserted retreat of a badger is at 

 once fit for occupation, but a rabbit's burrow may 

 be enlarged at the expenditure of little labour, 

 and the latter is without doubt the origin of the 

 majority of natural earths. For this reason alone 



