The Fox 31 



From these experiments it seems reasonable to 

 believe that, while the young are in the burrow and 

 unable to care for themselves, it is the business of 

 the male fox to keep dogs away from the den by 

 leading them on "straightaways." I am led firmly 

 to believe, also, that if the dog strikes the trail of the 

 female fox, the male in some way crosses off the female, 

 taking upon himself the burden of the chase. Cer- 

 tainly the cases I have cited point to this conclusion. 



The duty of providing food for the young foxes does 

 not rest entirely with the female, although the real 

 responsibility seems to be hers. At all events, when 

 food becomes scarce, it is the mother fox that, even 

 in the light of day, and almost in the presence of man 

 and dog, will venture near enough to the bams to catch 

 a fowl for her starving little ones. 



This condition of home affairs is true not only of 

 this fox family, but of all others which I have ob- 

 served, and I have reason to believe that it is usual 

 among foxes. In other animal families similar re- 

 sults have been observed. As has been stated, foxes 

 raised in a certain locality usually remain near home, 

 probably bringing up their own young within a few 

 miles of the parent den. So, too, with pumas. A 

 single family lives within a given territory and the 

 male and female, as a rule, hunt separately, as do the 



