16 



at critical times so as to act quickly and without violence. He knows 

 just when the foxes are getting too much food, just when the sexes 

 should be brought together or separated, when the female becomes 

 pregnant, when the young should be born, when they need special 

 attention, and when they may safely be left to the exclusive care of 

 the mother. He is not overinquisitive as to the number of young 

 that are born, and seldom needs to disturb the anxious parent, rely- 

 ing on her actions to show whether or not the little ones are thriving. 



GENERAL HABITS OF FOXES IN CONFINEMENT. 



Aside from the matter of propagation, the mere keeping of foxes 

 in confinement has proved simple. It is true that they do not become 

 very tame, or only in exceptional cases. Even the offspring of several 



Fig. 8. — Yards of a successful Maine fox farm. 



generations of foxes reared in captivity remain wild and, except 

 when young, evince more or less distrust of human beings. Still, 

 life in the wire inclosures does not seem unpleasant to them. When 

 thinking themselves unobserved they play together or lie contentedly 

 stretched at length in the sun. Cold weather has no terrors for them 

 and snow is a delight. At times of alternate freezing and thawing 

 it is dangerous to allow them to lie down on snow, as they may thus 

 seriously injure their coats. They rarely make determined efforts 

 to escape from the inclosures, except during the first few days of 

 captivity. Then they dig for perhaps a foot at the extreme edge of 

 the inclosure where the wire enters the ground. If the wire does not 

 enter the ground, but is . merely turned in at the bottom for some 2 

 feet, they dig only in the angle, and obviously can not accomplish 

 much, as they must work by thrusting their paws through the mesh 

 r>28 



