332 THOUGHrS UPON HUNTINd'. 



your cubs how to catch tlie young ones 5 and, tin thag 

 period of abundan-Ce arrives, it may be necessary to pro- 

 vide food for them*. Where game is scarce, wet weather 

 will be most favourable to them : they can then live on 

 beetles, chaffers, worms, &c. which they will find great 

 plenty of. 1 think the morning is the best time to turn 

 them out : if turned out in the evening, they will be 

 likely to ramble j but rf turned out early, and fed on 

 the earth, there is little doubt of their remaining there -f, 

 I also recommend to you, to turn them into large covers 

 and strong earths : — -out of small earths they are more liable 

 to be stolen j and from small covers arc more likely to stray. 

 Your game-keepers, at this season of the year, having 

 little to do, may feed, and take care of them. When you 

 stop any of these earths, remember to have them opened 

 again, as (I have reason to think) I lost some young foxes 

 one year by not doing it. For your own satisfadion, put 



* If a sheep die, let it be carried to the earth, and it will afford the 

 cubs food for some timf. 



+ A more certain method, perhaps, might be to pale in part of a copse 

 which has an earth in it. It might be well stocked with rabbits; the 

 young- ones of which, the cubs would soon learn to catch. You might have 

 meuses in the pale, and let them out when capable of getting their owi> 

 food. Foxes turned out answer best, when left to breed. 



