MAMMALS OF MARYLAND 



137 



open land, such as a pasture, fence border, or cultivated field. Vernon 

 Bailey (unpublished report, 1936) described one such den at Brooke- 

 ville as follows : 



The den had four openings, or doorways, 10, 15, and 20 feet apart, really the old 

 doorways of a woodchuck den enlarged to fox size. Two opened out on each side 

 of a big (Chestnut log, 3 or 4 feet in diameter. The burrows had been dug out 

 by the foxes to about twice the diameter of the woodchuck burrows and en- 

 larged to a comfortable fox nest room 20 feet back from the main entrance and 

 10 feet back from the other doorways. They ran 3 or 4 feet below the surface 

 through hard clay full of rocks that necessitated many crooks and turns but ran 

 uphill so the nest chamber was actually higher up than the actual doorway. All 

 of the burrows centered at the nest, beyond which the original woodchuck burrow 

 extended about 10 feet further but did not come to the surface. 



There was no nest material in the nest chamber, but semidry earth made a 

 comfortable bed for the young foxes with their dense woolly coats, and a uniform 

 temperature that I should guess was around 55° F. gave them a healthy home in 

 the den. 



Both parents hunt for food to provide for the young. Bailey de- 

 scribes the food found in the den at Brookeville : 



Much food had been brought into the den by the parent foxes. One white rooster 

 had been all eaten but the wings and head and telltale feathers scattered around 

 the doorway; one large house rat was lying near the doorway and two others 

 were found in the nest chamber and parts of four others in the pantry, an 

 excavation half full of food at one side of the upper entrance. It was about four 

 feet below the surface and so cool that all of the meat was fresh though some 

 of it several days old. From this were taken out part of a cottontail, half a 

 crow, and a mouse. 



Specimens examined. — Arme Arundel County: Fort George G. 

 Meade, 1; Priest Bridge (near), 1. Charles County: Waldorf, 1. 

 Dorchester County: Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, 9. Fred- 

 erick County: Jefferson, 2. Garrett County: Oakland, 1. Howard 

 Coumty: no exact locality, 1. Montgomery County: Bethesda, 1; 

 Brookeville, 1 ; Fairland, 1 ; Poolesville, 5 miles SW, 3 ; Potomac, 1 ; 

 Rockville, 1; Sandy Spring, 1; no exact locality, 1. Prince Georges 

 County: Laurel, 5; Patuxent Research Center, 4. Worcester Coumty: 

 Ocean City, 3 miles S ( Assateague Island) , 2. District of Columbia: 3. 



Other records and reports. — Allegam,y County: Mount Savage 

 (League of Maryland Sportsmen, Rally Sheet 4(10), p. 6, December 

 1946). Baltimore County: Loch Raven (Kolb, 1938) ; Patapsco State 

 Park (Hampe, 1939, p. 6). Garrett County: Finzel (E. A. Preble in 

 field report). Montgomery County: Laytonsville (rabid red fox re- 

 ported in Washington Evening Star, 28 December 1956) ; Plummers 

 Island (Goldman and Jackson, 1939, p. 132). 



RemarJcs. — It is well established that the red fox was either scarce 

 or did not occur in Maryland prior to the colonization of the State 

 by Europeans. Churcher (1959, p. 514) states that "a red fox was native 



