24 



FARM VERMIN, HELPFUL AND HURTFUL, 



In sandy soils foxes will, unaided, excavate considerable 

 burrows, or earths f in strong soil they will often take 

 possession of disused rabbit-burrows, which they enlarge^ 

 or badger earths, and it is a well-ascertained fact that these 

 two w^ill live together in the same vicinity and on the most 

 amicable terms. The young are almost always brought 

 forth in these earths, although occasionally a vixen has been 

 known to select a straws-stack or a hollow tree. Once when 

 riding down the open furrows in a deep-ploughed fallow 

 we found four little blind cubs in the space between two 



THE FOX. 



up-turned furrows ; these lay quite exposed in a shallow 

 nest of dried grass. On going to the place the next day we 

 found them gone, the keen-eyed vixen in some manner 

 having become aware of their discovery. 



There can be no disguising the fact that, however great a 

 favourite Reynard is in the hunting shires of England, he 

 is looked upon as an unmitigated pest and nuisance in the 

 mountain districts of northern Britain, where no hound or 



