124 BRITISH MAMMALS 



with detestation ; and although instances of interbreeding have 

 been reported, they are extremely rare. 



Foxes never consort in couples, male and female, except 

 during the breeding season ; and even then as many as three dog 

 foxes may be hanging round the vixen ^ to solicit her favours, 

 rather than one chosen husband. The vixen only breeds once in 

 the year, generally in February. She attracts the dog foxes by 

 uttering a sharp bark. When the vixen is pregnant she leaves 

 the society of the male and makes or takes a burrow for herself. 

 Here the young are born, generally in the month of April, after a 

 period of gestation of between sixty and sixty-five days. Foxes 

 only breed once a year. The females only come into season 

 once, and not twice, in the twelve months, as is the case with 

 dogs. The number of cubs in a litter varies from three to seven. 

 Fox puppies are born blind, and do not open their eyes until 

 about the age of ten days. They are playful little creatures, and 

 very active, with a yapping cry which is like a short bark. The 

 mother suckles them about a month, and then brings them food, 

 such as young rabbits, and later on she takes them out with her, 

 and trains them to hunt for themselves, summoning them to the 

 trail with sharp barks. 



Compared to dogs and wolves the fox is a very silent 

 animal. The usual cry is a short bark, not unlike that of the 

 domestic dog. This is only uttered during the breeding season 

 or when the female is calling to the cubs. It does not howl like 

 the jackal or wolf. 



The cunning and sagacity of the fox have become pro- 

 verbial in European folklore.^ This beast stands for astuteness 



^ A south-west dialect word, originally derived from the Anglo-Saxon 

 fuxen = female fox. The word "fox " itself is an old term of the Teutonic 

 branch of the Aryan languages which can be traced back to a form like the 

 Gothic fauho, or faukhs. 



^ Reinaert (Reynard) de Vos (fox), an old Low German beast epic, 

 summed up the impressions which the fox, the wolf (Isengrim), the badger, 

 the bear, the hare, the sheep, the lion, and the monkey had made on the 

 mind of European man from the close of the Glacial age to the close of 

 the Roman Empire. 



