THE EDUCATION OF THE FOX 25 



experience they need. So, just as we have glimmer- 

 ings of some past existence which perhaps is not 

 individual but that of the race, so young animals in- 

 herit a store of experience as much greater than that 

 of the child as their time is shorter. 



The method by which this stored-up experience 

 from the past history of the race is made available 

 is their play. Those who have watched fox cubs 

 must have noted how complete a rehearsal of the 

 whole drama of the fox's life — love, war, hunting, and 

 escape from his enemies — is the play of the young 

 foxes. In those first months their muscles are made 

 supple, their senses keen, by practice and exercise, 

 and the experience of the race is called out of the 

 past and made of service for the present. The fox's 

 liking for secluded situations for its earth often renders 

 it possible to observe the life of the cubs. In many 

 cases the earth is under a rock or rough cluster of 

 roots, on the side of a southern slope. The fresh- 

 drawn earth catches the eye among the many-tinted 

 undergrowth. The fox-earth in some coverts is not 

 hard to find, and many of them have been used for 

 a long time. An established burrow may be drawn by 

 the vixens and used for a century, and there are some 

 well-known earths in hunting countries which must 

 have been occupied every spring for quite that time. 



