The head and body of the Fox measures usually a trifle over two feet in length, and the bushy, white-tipped tail adds at least another foot to his total length when running; but examples have been recorded greatly exceeding these measurements. He stands only about fourteen inches high at the shoulder. The beautiful fur is russet or red-brown above and white on the under parts. The front of the limbs and the back of the ears are black. The sharp-pointed long muzzle, the erect ears, and the quick movements of the eye with its elliptical pupil combine to give him an alert, cunning appearance, which so impressed the ancient writers that they invented many stories of his astuteness. The Foxes ("Tods") of Scotland, although of the same species, have usually greyer fur than that of the English Fox. The Fox is an ancient Briton, and he was here at a period long anterior to the Mammoth's days.

The habits of the Fox are nocturnal, and save at the breeding season he leads a solitary life. The day is spent in an "earth"—a burrow underground, rarely made by himself, usually acquired from Badger or Rabbit; in the former case he has probably taken up quarters in the entrance to a Badger's earth and rendered it uninhabitable to the more cleanly beast by permeating it with the secretion from glands under the tail. In the case of the Rabbit-burrow the Fox gets undisputed possession by eating out those who constructed it. The Fox then stops all the exits except one, leaving that if possible that opens in a bramble thicket or the dense undergrowth of bracken on a hillside. From this stronghold he issues at dusk, and trots at a light easy pace along his accustomed trails, keeping a watchful eye for rabbit, hare, pheasant, partridge, hedgehog, squirrel, vole, frog—even snails and beetles. He sometimes takes to the seashore in quest of fish, crabs, and mussels. On winter nights he will prowl around the farms, looking for a hen-house whose door has not been properly secured; or for a fowl that is sleeping out in the copse. Sometimes a lamb is the victim, and in the mountain districts hunger will goad him to attack one of the small mountain sheep, especially if the vixen is hunting with him. If cornered he proves a hard fighter, and snaps like a wolf.

Skeleton of Fox.

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At night in January the scream of the vixen or she-fox, may be heard in appropriate places, and the yelping bark of the dog fox in answer to her invitation. About April the Vixen produces her litter of about four blind whelps. She is a model mother, unremitting in attention to their wants and education. They are without sight until ten days old. When nearly a month old they are taken out one night for exercise, and if suitable cover is found in the wood or on the moor among the heather, they may not return, though the vixen remains with them and teaches them hunting until the autumn, when the family party breaks up, each member going his or her own way; though they will not be fully grown until another year has passed. In fox-hunting countries artificial burrows are constructed in suitable places, of earth and stone, of which the expectant-mother vixen will avail herself. These are furnished in order that the cubs may be dug out with ease when they have reached a proper age for the huntsman's purpose.