436 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Considerable public interest has been evinced by the importation of 

 German Foxes into some parts of Bedfordshire. An ' Evening News ' 

 representative has interviewed Mr. G. Reuben Taylor, of Leadenhall 

 Market, on the subject : — 



" ■ How a farmer can tell that they are German cubs,' said Mr. Taylor, 

 1 is a wonder, There's no perceptible difference. A little lighter perhaps, 

 but that distinction disappears when the cub gets older. Austrian cubs, 

 now, are a bit shorter in the leg.' 



" ■ No, it's not the farmer who can tell ; the person who will know is the 

 unfortunate person who will hunt them. They don't run straight like an 

 English Fox — they don't give the sport. As to their viciousness and 

 destructiveness, they certainly are very vicious, but I doubt whether they 

 are so destructive as Scotch and English cubs.' 



" It seems that the only advantage possessed by the German cub is his 

 cheapness. English or Scotch cubs two to five months old fetch fifteen to 

 twenty-one shillings each ; Germans from seven to ten. There is no great 

 trade in English Foxes, because the Fox-hunting fraternity is a brotherhood 

 in more than name, and comfort each other with superfluous hounds and 

 Foxes. 



" Scotch Foxes, Mr. Taylor said, form the staple supply. They come 

 from mountainous parts, where hunting is impossible. During this season, 

 commencing roughly May 1st, and terminating about the end of June, he 

 has sold over three hundred Scotch cubs to only five English. The trade 

 is of course now finished, and later on comes the time for old Foxes, and in 

 these the relation between German and English as to price is the same. 

 This year Mr. Taylor sold four Canadian cubs, and is awaiting results with 

 considerable interest. They were exactly like the home article, and were, 

 he avers, probably descendants of English ancestors. Whether a Fox be 

 English, German, or auy other nationality, he, it seems, invariably possesses 

 the bouquet of Reynard in undiminished strength." 





