74 FOX-HUNTING 



you can gradually discontinue their allowance. 

 What you want is to feed the vixen well, so that 

 she shall have plenty of milk for the cubs ; and 

 if they are well nourished for the first two months, 

 they will get a start that will carry them over any 

 difficulty they may meet in the future. 



You must remember that hunting for his 

 food not only keeps a fox in good health but 

 also keeps him in condition, and a fat fox will 

 never show you much sport. If you will ex- 

 amine the billet of a wild fox you will find very 

 few instances where black beetles have not formed 

 the larger part of his previous meal. I have no 

 idea whether chemists have ever discovered any 

 medicinal properties in the black beetle, but I 

 believe it has the virtue of cooling a fox's blood 

 and thereby warding off the mange. 



The vixen usually draws her earth out a week 

 or two before the cubs arrive, and when the 

 earth-stopper finds this has been done, he should 

 never close up the entrance on a hunting-day. 

 It is much better that an old dog-fox should 

 occasionally get to ground than a heavy vixen 

 be killed. Fortunately there is very little scent 

 with a vixen in cub, which is, I suppose, a pro- 



