NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



mice were always appreciated. Once when locusts 

 were abundant I let it loose, and its activity in 

 seizing and devouring these pests was great. It 

 had evidently been in the habit of eating them 

 when in the wild condition, for the instant it saw 

 them it became greatly excited. Leading it by its 

 chain over the site of a colony of underground 

 termites or " White Ants," it at once began to 

 dig, and after an interval succeeded in scraping out 

 a flattish piece of clay, which it nipped. That 

 bit of clay proved to be the royal cell of the queen 

 termite ; and with the greatest of eagerness the 

 fox drew out the creature's fat body, which was 

 as big as a man's thumb, and greedily ate it up. It' 

 then licked up a goodly number of termites with 

 its tongue, and resisted when I drew it away, having 

 satisfied myself that termites constituted a portion 

 of the diet of Silver Foxes. 



This fox never showed any disposition to attack 

 adult fowls. Once it lay concealed under a bush 

 watching a brood of newly-hatched chickens. One 

 of these lagged behind its mother, and the fox made 

 a rush and seized it in its mouth. The chicken 

 chirped in distress, whereupon the mother hen flew 

 at the fox and attacked it so fiercely that it instantly 

 dropped the chicken and fled in wild alarm. For 

 nearly a day it lay hidden in a neighbouring bush, 

 and refused to come in answer to my calls. It 

 never again showed any disposition to make a meal 

 of a chicken. 



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