The Fox 103 



interesting from another point of view, besides that 

 of the hunter they are the homes of the foxes. 

 Here, during the springtime, on a soft bed of grass 

 and leaves the fox babies are born. They are lively 

 little fellows, varying in number from three to seven. 

 So rapidly do they grow that the amount of labor 

 expended in procuring food for them is great. The 

 parent foxes must hunt day and night. At such times 

 the female becomes daring, and has even been known 

 to invade farmyards and capture poultry in the day- 

 time. 



I have become acquainted with several fox families, 

 and very much have I enjoyed their friendship. All 

 but one of these families were allowed to rear their 

 young; the exception being in the case of a pair so 

 destructive that they were dug out, and the young 

 kept as pets. I wish to speak in particular of this 

 family, not that they differed so much from others, 

 but because I knew them better. 



It was in an open pasture, during the first week in 

 May, that I discovered their den. During the spring 

 four or five hens had mysteriously disappeared, and 

 one day I saw a fox not far from the barn. There 

 was nothing remarkable in this except that the fox 

 was the darkest in color I had ever seen, outside the 

 black species. The disappearance of the hens was 



