60 THE FOX. 



Again, the tail of the fox is of value in assisting 

 him to follow the lightning twists and turns of 

 Brer Rabbit, acting as a rudder and a stabiliser ; but 

 nevertheless there are times when this generally 

 useful piece of equipment is a severe drag. A 

 hard-run fox that has been compelled to take to 

 water finds his wet brush a sorry burden, and in 

 the end the slight additional weight may prove his 

 undoing. A badly wounded fox in Wharfedale, 

 which was ultimately shot and killed, was found 

 to be rendered almost helpless in its enfeebled 

 state by the heavy load of ice which had collected 

 in the long hair of its tail. The poor creature was 

 evidently too done up to bite out the ice-clots, 

 which rapidly accumulated, and in the end might 

 conceivably have sealed the animal's fate had not 

 a more merciful form of death stepped in. 



SPEED. 



I doubt very much whether the fox is so fast in 

 a short sprint as the rabbit ; 28 miles per hour is 

 probably the average maximum, but between the 

 maximum speed of Reynard and the speed he is 

 capable of maintaining over a considerable distance 

 there is but a narrow margin. Thus the prime 

 fox, whose maximum speed is 30 m.p.h., will prob- 

 ably prove capable of maintaining 20 m.p.h. over 

 a distance of four or five miles where the going is 

 favourable, whereas a rabbit, which may attain 

 33 m.p.h., could not maintain 20 m.p.h. for more 

 than five hundred yards. 



THE YOUNG. 



Gestation occupies fifty-one days. The young 

 are born early in April, and are blind for about 

 two weeks. Usually they appear at the den- 



