THE FOX. 331 



must have proved almost immediately fatal, for when found he 

 could not have been very long dead. 



In February, 1881, one of Lord Egmont's gardeners, in 

 Sussex, set a trap for an Otter on the bank of the river not far 

 from the house. It was set close to the water, and baited with 

 the remains of a good- sized roach picked up on the bank, and 

 partly eaten by an Otter. The following morning the trap was 

 occupied by a very old dog-Fox. He had eaten all the rest of 

 the roach except the head, and, in his struggles to free himself 

 from the trap, had rolled into the water and was drowned. It 

 was thought strange that a Fox should be tempted with stale 

 fish when there were plenty of Rabbits and Pheasants in the 

 immediate neighbourhood. 



If not very hungry at the time, a Fox will bury what he kills, 

 and return to it later, and perhaps bring a friend with him to 

 dine (see ' Zoologist,' 1885, p. 164). He has been known to 

 carry off a wounded Hare, and a winged Partridge in sight of a 

 shooting party, undeterred by shouts and other demonstrations. 

 No doubt on these occasions there was a litter of cubs to be 

 provided for, and food had to be obtained at all hazards. 



Foxes breed in winter, and the young are born about the end 

 of March or beginning of April, the period of gestation being two 

 months. Unless some accident happens to the first litter, only 

 one lot of cubs is produced in a year, and the number is from 

 three to six. They are born blind, and, like puppies, remain so 

 for nine or ten days.* They take eighteen months to reach their 

 full size, and their average duration of life, as in the case of the 

 dog, is about twelve years. When she has her cubs, the vixen 

 Fox seldom lies far from her " earth," and if she finds her 

 retreat discovered will carry the cubs away one by one in her 

 mouth. A vixen Fox in the possession of Mr. Edward Gataene, 

 of Gataene, in Shropshire, produced young while in captivity, 

 having made an "earth" for their reception by scratching up a 

 large flagstone. But the cubs having been looked at too much 

 by persons curious to see them, she destroyed them when only a 

 few days old.t 



It is a happy provision of Nature that young Foxes are unable 



* For a description of Fox-cubs ten days old, see 'The Zoologist,' 1871, 

 p. 2638. 



f Eyton, Mag. Zool. & Bot. vol. ii. p. 541. 



