io THE FOX 



light as io lb., and no authenticated weight over 

 26 lb. Scotch, Welsh, and Lake-country foxes are 

 rather above the average of English. Joe Bowman, 

 of the Ullswater Hunt, whose hounds, in common 

 with other Fell-country packs, never break up a fox, 

 has weighed many hundreds of foxes, and gives the 

 average weight of a dog fox as 15 lb. and of a vixen 

 as 13 \ lb. He has never, he writes to the 'Field,' 

 killed so small a ox as one of 11 lb., nor one that 

 weighed over 23 lb. His heaviest fox was killed on 

 Cross Fell, where they average rather more than in 

 the rest of the district. Hill foxes are very tough 

 and wiry, and often stand up before hounds for a 

 long time. Strong and active though a fox is, a 

 really good terrier is more than a match for the 

 biggest fox. A little fox terrier named Corby, be- 

 longing to Lord Decies, was put to ground to bolt a 

 fox in the Ullswater country. She was underground 

 for twenty- four hours, and killed three large dog 

 foxes which were in the earth, one behind the other. 

 Their total weight was 62 lbs. 



Even the characteristic odour of the fox is vari- 

 able. It is much less in some individuals than 

 others. The pretty little fox of Bengal and the 

 swift, graceful desert fox of Scinde, leave little or 

 no scent, but they will give a capital gallop with a 



