NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 
mice were always appreciated. Once when locusts 
were abundant I let it loose, and its activity in 
seizing and devouring these pests was great. It 
had evidently been in the habit of eating them 
when in the wild condition, for the instant it saw 
them it became greatly excited. Leading it by its 
chain over the site of a colony of underground 
termites or “ White Ants,” it at once began to 
dig, and after an interval succeeded in scraping out 
a flattish piece of clay, which it nipped. That 
bit of clay proved to be the royal cell of the queen 
termite; and with the greatest of eagerness the 
fox drew out the creature’s fat body, which was 
as big as a man’s thumb, and greedily ate it up. It 
then licked up a goodly number of termites with 
its tongue, and resisted when I drew it away, having 
satisfied myself that termites constituted a portion 
of the diet of Silver Foxes. 
This fox never showed any disposition to attack 
adult fowls. Once it lay concealed under a bush 
watching a brood of newly-hatched chickens. One 
of these lagged behind its mother, and the fox made 
a rush and seized it in its mouth. The chicken 
chirped in distress, whereupon the mother hen flew 
at the fox and attacked it so fiercely that it instantly 
dropped the chicken and fled in wild alarm. For 
nearly a day it lay hidden in a neighbouring bush, 
and refused to come in answer to my calls. It 
never again, showed any disposition to make a meal 
of a chicken. 
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