34 THE BRITISH NATURE BOOK 



The fox, in common with other kinds of dogs, has a strong odour, due to 

 the possession of a scent gland, which is found close to the tail and emits a 

 foetid smell. It is this " scent " which becomes the means by which he is 

 hunted down by the hounds. 



Foxes breed in February, and one of the eerie sounds of the real country-side 

 is the bark of the vixen at night, calling the males to her. After marriage 

 the lady separates from her husband and makes a burrow for herself, where 

 the young are born, generally in April. The litter consists of from three to seven 

 cubs, which are born blind and remain in that condition for ten days. After 

 being nursed for a month, they are able to tackle the young rabbits and other 

 food which the mother brings to them. They are very delightful creatures in 

 their infancy, and easily tamed. I have seen them playing at the mouth of 

 their home in early morning, worrying a dead rabbit which their mother had 

 brought obviously not for food, but as a toy and racing backwards and for- 

 wards between their " earth " and the tree which made their " long-distance 

 mark." Young foxes in their frolics make a well-beaten track for games, which 

 is quite plainly seen by those whose eyes are alert. It may be round the base 

 of a tree, where the grass will be found quite bare ; or, more probably, in addi- 

 tion, it will consist of a path running more or less straight for fifty yards or so 

 to some point such as a tree, hillock, or rock, doubling back by a lower track 

 " home." Those who practise " woodcraft " should look out for these " playing 

 sites." 



The fox can make his burrow for himself, but frequently he enlarges one 

 made by the rabbit ; I have found his " earth " in the midst of a rabbit warren 

 on more than one occasion. 



As for food, the fox will eat pretty well anything. Besides the farmer's 

 poultry, he feeds on wild rabbits, hares, game, hedgehogs, rats, mice, moles, 

 frogs, beetles, and worms. On the coast he does not despise fish, crabs, or 

 shellfish ; and everywhere he will eat carrion if he can find it. 



Foxes are easily tamed, and I place in an appendix a short account of one 

 I have known. 



As for the fox's cunning, that is proverbial. Every one, I hope, knows 

 " Brer Fox " : that name, with " Reynard " in English, Reinaert de Vos in 

 German, comes into a group of stories older than any books in the world, 

 told by primitive man round his camp-fires. They show that Master Fox's 

 character was well known in those dateless days. 



Fox hunting is not the ancient sport that we should at first sight imagine. 

 It became a vogue in England about the beginning of the seventeenth century, 

 though previously the fox was occasionally hunted on foot as a beast of 

 venery, though an inferior one. 



2. The Common Otter (Lutra vulgaris). This handsome mammal is the 

 " weasel " of the river, and is, I fear, becoming rarer. When full grown it 

 measures, from nose to tip of tail, over a yard in length. Its general shape is 

 clear from the photographs (Plate II.). Its head, or face, is really pretty, 



