HO IV TO PRESERVE FOXES 67 



As foxes must be imported, it is a pity to 

 waste the fine store of gallant Scotch, Welsh, and 

 other breeds from those parts where no hounds are 

 kept. But they should travel in special crates, and 

 these be made firewood of after one journey. The 

 least relaxation of vigilance and the mischief is done. 

 Another cause of mange is that foxes are frequently 

 penned in most insanitary places. As we have seen, 

 the fox is, perhaps, not the most cleanly of animals 

 in some of its habits, and in a confined space disease 

 is soon set up. It is nowadays quite a common 

 practice for keepers to kill off the old vixens as soon 

 as the cubs can feed themselves. The cubs are then 

 penned in any convenient place and fed on rabbits 

 and sometimes on raw meat. When the hounds come, 

 cubs are let out as required. Such cubs are nearly 

 always diseased and cannot possibly show sport. 

 The only way to have good healthy foxes is to pre- 

 serve old vixens, and every year this is done less and 

 less. Young vixens have not the knowledge and ex- 

 perience of old foxes, and their litters will never be as 

 well fed, as well taught, or have such a wide range as 

 will those of the older ones. There are many coverts 

 where there is never an old fox except a visiting dog 

 fox in the spring, and it is only by accident that we 

 ever enjoy a really good run from such places. 



F 2 



