98 



The Living Animals of the World 



animals : 

 seem to t 

 been know 



Phobi by (.'. jr. ]Vdw,i it' Co., Lid.] 



[Aberdeen. 



MOUXTAIN-FOX. 



In hillj countries the fox becomes a jjowei-ful and destructive animal, killing not only game 



but lambs. 



taken out before the American Kevolution. India has 

 its small Desert-foxes (" the little foxes that eat the 

 grapes ") and the Bengal Vox. 



The value of the foxes as fur-bearin£ 

 immense. Only white, blue, and black skint 

 appreciated in England. The lilacls: fox has 

 to fetch 150 guineas a skin. But in the 

 Asia Jlinor to China, red, grey, 

 and yellow fox-skins are the 

 lining of e\ery rich man's winter 

 wnips. Splendid mixed robes 

 are made by the Chinese by in- 

 serting portions of cross fox-skins 

 into coats of cut sable, giving 

 the idea that it is the i'ur of 

 a new animal. 



The Common Fo.x, the 

 foundation or type of all the 



above, is the best-known carnivorous animal in this country. Abroad its habits do not greatly 

 differ, except that, not being hunted much with hounds, it is less completely nocturnal. It 

 drojos its young in an earth early in April. Thither the vixen carries food till late in June, 

 when the cubs come out, and often move to a wood or a corn-field. There they are still fed, 

 but learn to do a little on their own account by catching mice and moles. By late September 

 the hounds come cub-hunting, j^artly to kill off superfluous foxes, partly to educate the young 

 hounds, and to teach the foxes to fear them and to make them leave cover easily. Four or 

 five cubs in a litter are commonly seen. The distance which a fox wdll run is extraordinary. 

 The following is a true account of one of the most remarkable runs ever known. The hounds 

 were those of Mr. Tom Smith, master of the Hambledon Hunt. He was the man of whom 

 another famous sportsman said that if he were a fox he should prefer to be hunted by a pack 

 of hounds rather than by Tom Smith with a stick in his hand. The fox was found in a cover 

 called Markwells, at one o'clock in the afternoon in December, near Petersfield. It crossed into 

 Sussex, and ran into an earth in Grafham Hill a little before dark. The fox had gone twenty- 

 seven miles. The hounds had forty miles to go back to kennel that night, and three only 

 found their way home four days afterwards. Dog-foxes assemble in considerable numbers 



when a vixen is about in spring, 

 and at all times common foxes 

 are sociable creatures, though not 

 actually living in societies. Some- 

 times as many as five or six are 

 found in a single earth. Two 

 years ago five foxes and a badger 

 were found in one near Eomford. 

 They eat mice, beetles, rats, birds, 

 game, poultry, and frogs. Their 

 favourite food is rabbits. If there 

 are plenty of these, they will not 

 touch other game. They hunt along 

 the railway-lines tor dead birds 

 killed by the telegraph-wires. In 

 the New Forest they also go down 

 to the shore and pick up dead fish. 

 One in the writer's possession was 



LEICBSTEKSHIRE FOX. 



Leicestershire is the best fox-hunting county in England, 

 their siteed and endurance. 



The foxes are famous for 



