Foxes and Lambs. 117 



When speaking of foxes never stealing lambs 

 except under dire necessity the author is alluding 

 to English-bred foxes only, being thoroughly 

 convinced of their innocence in that respect, but 

 he is not so certain that foxes imported from the 

 far North are altogether so guiltless. Such foxes 

 are very different in habit to those bred in the 

 South. Food is scarce, they have had the run of 

 a large extent of moorland on which sheep 

 abound, and are well known to be guilty of 

 stealing lambs. If a visit is paid to the rocks in 

 which litters of cubs are bred in the far North, 

 plenty of evidence is to be seen that the youngsters 

 have had a good deal of young mutton. Should 

 cubs fed in this way be captured and turned down 

 in the South, it is only natural that for a time 

 they should seek to feed on similar fare. How- 

 ever, the plenitude of other food, if they have 

 been released in a preserved district, soon causes 

 them to take to other modes of living, and these 

 imported foxes rarely steal lambs after the first 

 season in their new home. 



If here and there a fox does kill lambs the 

 owner or his shepherd is often much to blame. A 

 farmer generally establishes a lambing pen in the 

 fields, and all the pregnant ewes are collected 

 therein. As soon as lambs begin to appear foxes 



