SILVER-FOX FARMING. 
23 
boxes, with hinged sloping tops, set about 18 inches apart and on 
legs 18 inches high, as shown in Figure 22. The two are connected by 
a chute 9 inches wide and 10 inches high, the entrance from the 
ground being into the smaller box through a sloping chute 4 or 5 
feet long. Each chute is fitted with a slot and sliding door, and 
both should be so constructed as to be easily hooked in place or taken 
off when the dens are to be moved or cleaned. When it is desired 
to look at a fox in the larger den, the caretaker closes the door in 
the connecting chute and then lifts the hinged roof. By closing both 
doors inspection may be similarly made in the smaller box, which 
is used chiefly as a feeding place for the young and as a place in 
which to separate them from the parents. 
The walls of both dens are double and lined with building paper. 
The outside base measurements of the larger should be 4 or 5 feet 
by 2J or 3 feet, and of the smaller 3 by 1-J feet. The front of the 
larger should be 2 feet high and the back 1\ feet, while in the 
smaller these heights should be 1J feet and 14 inches, respectively. 
The larger den is partitioned so that a room is made in the far end for 
a nest chamber for the 
use of the vixen and 
her young at whelp- 
ing time. The nest 
box is of dressed 
lumber, 18 inches 
long, 15 inches wide, 
and 15 inches high, 
and is also provided / jf ^*)) 
with a hinged lid. A 
chamfered strip is 
fitted against the floor 
and sides to prevent the pups from rolling too far away from the 
mother, and is an aid also in cleaning the nest box. The spaces be- 
tween the Avail of the nest box and the main wall of the largo den 
are filled with dry sawdust, oat hulls, ground cork, or other suitable 
material. 
DEN WITH REMOVABLE NEST BOX. 
A most convenient den from the standpoint of the caretaker, and 
one very simple to construct, is made with a removable nest box. 
This box is fastened in temporarily in the front part of the den by 
a board fitted in slots in the sides, in order to prevent the foxes from 
moving it about, thus causing accidents to the vixen or to the pups. 
The detailed construction is shown in Figure 23. The outside base 
measurements are 4 by \\ feet, the front is 2-| feet high, and the rear •_' 
feet. It is double walled and lined with building paper. A chute, 
9 by 10 inches, that can be hooked to the den and removed whenever 
necessary, leads from the entrance to the ground, as shown in 
Figure 22. 
DOUBLE-COMPARTMENT DEN. 
A very simple and useful den is constructed in two compartments 
and entered from the outside by separate chutes, as in Figure 24. 
It is 4 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 2 feet high (outside measurements), 
double walled, with building or tarred paper between the walls. 
Fig. 
Double-box den. 
