BRITISH MAMMALS 
of chase, and endless tales have been told of the wiles and subterfuges 
employed to escape its enemies or circumvent its prey, from the days of 
TEsop to our own times. Except in the breeding season the Fox is 
unsocial and lives apart from his kind, usually occupying an earth or 
burrow made by some other animal, those dug by the Badger being often 
taken possession of, or even shared with the owner. 
Foxes pair in the winter months, when the weird harsh cry of the 
vixen may often be heard at night as she calls to her mate, while the 
latter reveals his presence by two or three sharp little barks. The cubs, 
up to seven in number, are born about the end of March, and when 
old enough will come out to play and scamper around the entrance of 
their home, when their antics are most entertaining to watch. The 
sketch forming the tail-piece shows them thus employed, and was taken 
from life near Godalming. 
As is often the case, I was told that the vixen never interfered with 
some fowls living close at hand, but would always forage for food at a 
distance. She was no doubt wise enough to know that her young might 
be endangered if depredations occurred near home. 
Various are the ruses employed by the Fox when hunting his prey. 
Charles St. John, in !Hatural History and Sport in the Highlands (8th ed. 
pp. 195-196), describes how at daybreak he once watched one planning 
an attack on some hares feeding in the open, first preparing an ambush 
by scraping a hollow in the ground where he knew by instinct 
his quarry would pass when leaving the field after sunrise. As soon as 
a hare came sufficiently near his post, Reynard by a sudden rush 
seized and killed her immediately. 
At times the Fox employs entirely different tactics, and will apparently 
make use of the curiosity or liability to fascination in the nature of any 
bird or other animal he may wish to circumvent. 
