THE FOX IN AUSTRALIA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 4 August 1913, Page 3

THE FOX IN AUSTRALIA.

The remarkable spread of the English fox in Australia is beginning to <jause some concern to farmers, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The fox in Australia is bigger than his cousins in* England, and quite as cumiing and resourceful. The Australian vixen is much more prolific. A litter of two or three would eeem to be the general rule in England, while in Australia, seven, eight, or even ten, are common. A" Dubbo farmer vouches for the statement #iat on one of his properties a vixen littered at * least twice a year, generally bringing forth severn or eight, and on one occasion, eleven cubs.- This would seem to be in conformity with the general law of Nature that forms of life develop larger proportions and multiply in increasing ratio as the advance is made from temperate to tropical countries. Grave charges are being made against- the Australian fox. It is said that, not being content with poultry and rabbits as food, he is in the habit of attacking sheep. One farmer reports/having lost twenty lambs in one night through this cajuse. Many people, on the other hand, deny that the fox is guilty in this respect, just as people have denied that the kea killed sheep. Foxes are frequently seen gambolling with young lambs or coax- ! ing them oiu to play. One farmer , declares \ that thia is only a means of luring the lambs, and that when their energies are spent and their mouths open, the foxes bite out their tongues. Otherfi, again, say it is done in pureffurn r and that the fact that the sheep display no fear at the approach of foxes seems to bear out this theory. The reported deaths of lambs are attributed by an© authority to crowa, who, he says, first peck out the eyes of the lamb, then the tongue, and afterwards the kidney and heart. In favour of the fox, it is maintained that he serves to keep the rabbit pe«t in check, and that while he may be classed as a pest, he' is by no means the curse that the dingo and the crow are. It is also: urged that he never could become really serious nuisance, as the rabbit has done, since he is very easily poisoned.