It is usually assumed that, but for its careful preservation by the various 'hunts', the red fox would have become extinct long ago in the British Isles except in the wildest and most remote corners.  For centuries it has been persecuted outside the hunt areas because of its alleged poultry-killing habits and even today the killing of a fox is still looked on with approval.  Yet, in spite of all this, the fox has survived and at times is unusually numerous. 
     The head and body of the red fox measure just over 2ft with a 16ini. tail, but there are records which greatly exceed these measurements, especially in Scotland. A well grown fox stands only about 14 in. at the shoulder.  The dog-fox and vixen are alike except that the vixen is slightly smaller and has a narrower face as she lacks the cheek ruffs of the male.  The fur is sandy, russet or red-brown above and white on  the underparts.  The backs of the ears are black, as are the fronts of the legs, but these may be brown, and can change from one colour to the other with the moult.  The colours may vary, however, not only between one individual and another, but in the same individual.from season to season.  The foxes (Tods) of Scotland, although of the same species, usually have greyer fur than the English fox.  When fully haired the tail is known as a brush.  The tip (or tag) is white but may be black.  Weights vary considerably but on average a dog-fox weighs 15 lb, a vixen 12 lb. 
    The sharp-pointed muzzle, the erect ears and quick movements of the eye with its elliptical pupil combine to give the fox an alert, cunning appearance, so many stories of its astuteness have been invented in the past.  At the moult, in July and August, foxes lose their characteristic appearance and look thin-bodied, long-legged and slender of tail. 
    The red.fox ranges over Europe and over Asia as far south as central India, as well as northwest Aftica.  It is found throughout the British Isles, except for Orkney, Scotland and all Scottish islands, but not Skye.  In central Asia it lives up to 14,000 ft above sea-level.  The North American red fox Vulpes fulva is very like the Old World red fox in build and habits. There are several mutants, the crossfox is red with a black band across the shoulders, and the silver fox has a lustrous black coat with white tips to the guard hairs. 

Tree-climbing foxes 

     The red fox's traditional cunning is a reflection of its adaptability. It prefers wooded or bushy areas but is found in a variety of habitats.  Many foxes today are even found living in or near large towns, including London, where they probably live off rats and mice and scavenge in dustbins.  Although the fox lives mainly on the ground there are many instances of it climbing trees.  Usually this occurs when a tree is leaning or when there is a trailing bough that has broken and is hanging down to the ground, up which the fox can clamber.  There is one recorded instance, however, of a fox having its sleeping nest at the top of a bole of an elm, 14 ft from the ground, with no branches between it and the ground.  Foxes are largely nocturnal, but they can often be seen during the day.  Except at the breeding season the dog-fox and vixen lead solitary lives.  Most of the day is spent in an 'earth'  which is more of a cavity in the ground than a burrow.  They may make this themselves or use a badger's set or rabbit burrow. 
    Foxes use a great variety of calls, the most familiar being the barking of both the dog-fox and the vixen in winter and the screaming of the vixen, generally during the breeding season.  It has now been established that, contrary to common opinion, the dog-fox may also scream sometimes. 

Poultry killer? 

    A great deal has been written about the fox prowling round farms looking for an opportuility to kill an unguarded fowl.  Certainly foxes will take poultry and they will take lambs, but these habits tend to be local.  A vixen that has taken to killing poultry will teach her cubs to do the same.  But not all foxes are habitual poultry stealers and there have been instances of foxes repeatedly visiting poultry farms or private gardens containing a few poultry and never molesting them. 
     More solid information about their food comes from a Ministry of Agriculture investigation of the stomach contents of dead foxes.  This showed that, now that rabbits are scarce, the chief items of food are rats, mice and bank voles.  Hedgehogs, squirrels, voles, frogs, even snails and beetles are, however, also eaten, as well as a great deal of vegetable matter.  Birds such as partridges and pheasants will also be taken.  A fox will soon discover offal or carrion, even if buried 2 ft in the earth.  Foxes also visit dustbins and a feature of the many foxes now living in towns is that they have turned scavenger.  Railway marshalling yards also have their foxes, probably feeding on food thrown out from restaurant cars or on rats living on this food. 

Teaching the cubs 

     Mating takes place from late December to February.  The gestation period is 51-52 days.  About April the vixen produces her single litter for the year, usually of four cubs.  They are blind until 10 days old, and remain in the earth until nearly a month old, the vixen staying close beside them, while the dog-fox plays a large part in supplying the food.  When about a month old the cubs come out in the evening and can be seen playing as a group with the parents outside the earth.  This continues for several weeks. 
     After the cubs are weaned it has been noted, in semi-captivity, that the dog-fox continues to bring food for them and the cubs will take the food from his mouth themselves, or the vixen may take it and the cubs take it from her mouth.  The cubs have to jump up to reach the parent's mouth and all the time the parent is moving its head, from side to side or up and down.  In this way the cubs are being exercised so developing their limbs, and also learning to coordinate movements and senses.  During this time the dog-fox plays a great deal with them, more so than the vixen. 
    Later the vixen takes them hunting at night, so they learn from her example how to fend for themselves.  The cubs leave their parents when about 2 months old, reach adult size 6 months after birth, and become sexually mature in their first winter. 

'Charming' 

     Foxes are credited with resorting to a particular stratagem, called 'charming', to attain their end.  A story is usually told of a fox which, seeing a party of rabbits feeding and knowing that they will bolt to their holes on its approach, starts rolling about at a safe distance to attract their attention.  Then like a kitten it begins chasing its tail, while the rabbits gaze, apparently spellbound, at the performance.  The fox continues without a pause, as though oblivious to the presence of spectators, but all the time it is contriving to get nearer, until a sudden straightening of the body enables it to grab the nearest rabbit in its jaws. 
     There are too many authentic accounts of foxes charming to leave much doubt about the matter.  From these, a more likely explanation evolves: foxes are naturally playful.  Like some other mammals they will, without obvious cause, suddenly behave as if they have taken leave of their senses, bounding about, bucking, somersaulting, and so on.  Rabbits and birds on seeing these antics are drawn to watch out of curiosity.  If the fox is hungry then the spectators suffer.  It is possible that a fox playing in this way and finding birds and rabbits attracted to it, might use this tactic again, deliberately.  Such learning by experience would not be beyond a fox's intelligence, but there is much to be said for the view that charming, as such, is not primarily a deliberate stratagem.