254 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN 



of March about the middle of the breedmg season. 

 Old men and sportsmen who have paid the greatest 

 attention to the habits of the fox appear to agree 

 on that point. One sohtary instance has come 

 to the knowledge of the writer during his life 

 which has been much devoted to these subjects 

 generally, and that was most remarkable. It was 

 related to him by the Hon. Wilham Gage, who 

 actually saw a litter of young foxes, about one 

 month old, in the month of February 1832, in one 

 of his covers in Hampshire. Fortunately for the 

 pleasure of fox-hunting, this is a solitary exception, 

 but of which there can be no doubt, as they were 

 brought in by the keeper, and were often seen 

 afterwards. It is no less certain, that it is an 

 almost unheard-of circumstance for a fox to breed 

 earlier than about the general time mentioned 

 above ; otherwise instances must have occurred to 

 disprove this assertion. The cubs would be dis- 

 covered in some way, either by accident or when 

 digging out a fox ; or keepers and earth-stoppers 

 would see that the earths were used by cubs. 

 Nothing of the sort ever occurs until the begin- 

 ning of the month of March, when the earths 

 are drawn by the vixens ; and about the end of 

 the month and in April, cubs are frequently 



