WOOL- AND FUR-BEARING ANIMALS 265 



man and dogs. It is curious, but nevertheless a fact, that few 

 Terriers will face and fight a vixen with cubs. A Terrier used for 

 bolting Foxes, and perhaps good enough to kill one at other times, 

 will seldom tackle a vixen with cubs ; in fact, it is she who becomes 

 the attacking party, and not the attacked, as was the case before 

 the cares of a family rested upon her. 



Once, while out ferreting, a keeper came across a big sand-earth, 

 which a Terrier seemed very keen to enter. Thinking it had prob- 

 ably been worked by a Badger, the dog was let go, but before he 

 had got a yard in he pushed himself out backwards in a great hurry, 

 followed by a vixen who had only just laid up her cubs there. So 

 determined did her ladyship seem to drive him quite off the premises 

 that she followed him for thirty yards out. This same Terrier had 

 previously, and has since, bolted many Foxes. 



Another curious matter is the Fox and the Badger living on such 

 neighbourly terms as they do together (often bringing up their 

 famihes in the same earth), especially when one considers how 

 totally different the two animals are in their habits. The Fox is, 

 perhaps, not dirty in person, but is naturally very untidy in and 

 about his home, for he will leave the decaying remains of his prey 

 about the earth in the most filthy manner, whereas the Badger is 

 particularly clean both in person and home. 



Nothing seems to come amiss to the Fox in his bill of fare. 

 Among some of the most common of his prey are fowls of every 

 variety from the farmyard. Pheasants, Partridges, Hares, Rabbits, 

 Rats, Field-Mice, Moles, young Rooks, Pigeons, small Birds, Cock- 

 roaches, Wild Cherries and Berries (especially Blackberries). 



It will be seen that he, like most other animals, has his good 

 and bad points. Looking at him from a gamekeeper's point of view, 

 it must be said his bad qualities far overbalance his good ones. At 

 the same time he is an excellent vermin killer, and it may not be 

 generally known, even by those who know him best and often paint 

 him blackest, that he is a deadly enemy both to the Stoat and 

 Weasel. He has a bad reputation as a fowl stealer, some part of 

 which is well earned, for there is nothing he seems to enjoy more 

 than a chicken, but in this respect he needs a broad back to bear 

 all the charges brought against him, especially in a hunting district 

 where a substantial poultry fund exists for damage done by stray 

 Dogs, Cats and vermin. 



It must be admitted he does seem to take a delight in slaughter, 



