Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/464

436 public interest has been evinced by the importation of German Foxes into some parts of Bedfordshire. An 'Evening News' representative has interviewed Mr. G. Reuben Taylor, of Leadenhall Market, on the subject:—

"'How a farmer can tell that they are German cubs,' said Mr. Taylor, 'is a wonder, There's no perceptible difference. A little lighter perhaps, but that distinction disappears when the cub gets older. Austrian cubs, now, are a bit shorter in the leg.'

"'No, it's not the farmer who can tell; the person who will know is the unfortunate person who will hunt them. They don't run straight like an English Fox—they don't give the sport. As to their viciousness and destructiveness, they certainly are very vicious, but I doubt whether they are so destructive as Scotch and English cubs.'

"It seems that the only advantage possessed by the German cub is his cheapness. English or Scotch cubs two to five months old fetch fifteen to twenty-one shillings each; Germans from seven to ten. There is no great trade in English Foxes, because the Fox-hunting fraternity is a brotherhood in more than name, and comfort each other with superfluous hounds and Foxes.

"Scotch Foxes, Mr. Taylor said, form the staple supply. They come from mountainous parts, where hunting is impossible. During this season, commencing roughly May 1st, and terminating about the end of June, he has sold over three hundred Scotch cubs to only five English. The trade is of course now finished, and later on comes the time for old Foxes, and in these the relation between German and English as to price is the same. This year Mr. Taylor sold four Canadian cubs, and is awaiting results with considerable interest. They were exactly like the home article, and were, he avers, probably descendants of English ancestors. Whether a Fox be English, German, or any other nationality, he, it seems, invariably possesses the bouquet of Reynard in undiminished strength."