THE FOX 147 



for cubs near the boundary of an estate, the owner 

 of which did not look on Foxes as desirable visitors^ 

 much less as residents. For this reason the keeper 

 was anxious to shift her into an earth in the same 

 wood which had previously been occupied by 

 Foxes as a breeding earth and on more welcome 

 ground. He took a Terrier and bolted her. The 

 keeper took the precaution to taint the earth 

 thoroughly inside and out with renardine, an offen- 

 sive preparation, the manufacturers of which say 

 no Fox will approach! He also well stopped the 

 earth, but upon his return the next morning 

 found she had torn it open and was working 

 freely. He tainted and stopped it up again, and 

 this was repeated every day for ten days, but 

 eventually it had to be given up, for, in spite of his 

 efforts, she would persist in opening and working 

 the earth each night even after the cubs were born 

 and she had the chance to move them. This, of 

 course, was a very exceptional case and proof of 

 how far sometimes one vixen may deviate from 

 the general rule. 



Vixens do not often move their cubs during the 

 first month of their existence unless they are dis- 

 turbed in some way. The means the mother 

 employs for their removal is by carrying them in 

 her mouth one at a time, just in the same way a 

 Cat would carry her kitten. She can do this up 

 to the time they are six weeks old. After this 



