54 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



stops all the exits except one, leaving that if possible that opens 

 in a bramble thicket or the dense undergrowth of bracken on a 

 hillside. From this stronghold he issues at dusk, and trots at a 

 light easy pace along his accustomed trails, keeping a watchful 

 eye for rabbit, hare, pheasant, partridge, hedgehog, squirrel, 

 vole, frog even snails and beetles. He sometimes takes to the 

 seashore in quest of fish, crabs, and mussels. On winter nights 

 he will prowl around the farms, looking for a hen-house whose 

 door has not been properly secured ; or for a fowl that is sleeping 

 out in the copse. Sometimes a lamb is the victim, and in the 



Skeleton of Fox. 



mountain districts hunger will goad him to attack one of the 

 small mountain sheep, especially if the vixen is hunting with 

 him. If cornered he proves a hard fighter, and snaps like 

 a wolf. 



At night in January the scream of the vixen or she-fox, may 

 be heard in appropriate places, and the yelping bark of the dog 

 fox in answer to her invitation. About April the Vixen produces 

 her litter of about four blind whelps. She is a model mother, 

 unremitting in attention to their wants and education. They 

 are without sight until ten days old. When nearly a month old 



