306 TREATMENT OF CUBS. 



what I frequently do myself, and find it an- 

 swer.* A fox-court, therefore, is of great use : 

 it should be airy, or I would not advise you to 

 keep them long in it. I turned out one year 

 ten brace of cubs, most of which, by being kept 

 till they were tainted before they were turned 

 out, were found dead in the covers, with scarce 

 any hair upon them ; whilst a brace, which had 

 made their escape by making a hole in th^- sack 

 in which they were brought, lived, and showed 

 excellent sport. If the cubs are large, you may 

 turn them out immediately ; — a large earth will 

 be best for that purpose, where tl^ should be 

 regularly fed with rabbits, birds, or sheep's 

 henges, whichever you can most conveniently 

 get. I believe, when a fox is once tainted, 

 he never recovers it. The weather being re- 

 markably hot, those that I kept in my fox- 



* Though turned-out foxes may ?ometimes answer the 

 purpose of entering j'oung hounds, yet they seldom show 

 any diversion. Few of those I have turned into my woods 

 have I ever seen again ; besides, the turning out of foxes, 

 and alarming the neighbourhood, may hasten their destruc- 

 tion. Foxes will be plentiful enough where traps are not 

 set to destroy them. Should they do any injury to the 

 farmer, make satisfaction for it : encourage the neighbour- 

 ing game-keepers to preserve them, by paying them hand- 

 somely for every littei' of cubs that they take care of for 

 you. If you act in this manner, you may not have occasion 

 to turn any out. 



