ENEMIES OF THE GAME-REARER 



employed for the destruction of Foxes, and this may be 

 either in the form of pure strychnine, which is white, or 

 else as a brown powder, known as nux-vomica, strychnine 

 being one of two active principles contained in this plant of 

 which the powder is a representative. 



When a Fox is found dead in what is apparently a 

 mysterious manner, it is advisable to have a post-mortem 

 made in order to unravel the mystery. When a Pheasant 

 is sitting, it is quite safe from the Fox until the eggs begin 

 to hatch, it being a popular notion that a sitting Pheasant 

 is free from scent. When the young birds are hatched and 

 the hen begins to leave the nest, the danger of a Fox tracking 

 her increases from day to day. 



Foxes are very keen in searching fences at night and 

 hedgerows where they have an idea sitting birds are likely 

 to exist. Both mangy Foxes and Vixens, when the latter 

 has cubs, are worse to deal with than a healthy dog Fox. 

 For the first few weeks the cubs subsist upon the milk, 

 and she only requires food for herself, so that her hunting 

 exploits are of a very limited order — in fact, only just sufficient 

 to supply her with the necessary sustenance. When the cubs 

 become a drain upon her system she begins to forage for 

 them, and it is in these foraging expeditions that she has to 

 scour the ground of all it is worth, though for the time 

 being she will avoid roaming far from her earth. 



A gamekeeper can do a good deal towards regulating the 

 depredation of a Vixen with cubs. He can, in fact, regulate 

 her conduct so much that she will interfere very little with 

 the game. Most of her foraging expeditions are carried 

 out during the night, and the best plan is to feed her 

 liberally at the furthest points to which she goes. It is no 

 use feeding her at home, it being natural for a Fox to make 

 nocturnal predatory excursions. 



207 



