Rural School Leaflet 875 



dominant color of our common species is reddish, as the name implies; 

 feet and ears are blackish; tip of tail, white. The ears are about three 

 inches long. Three distinct color variations of the red fox are found, 

 together with many intermediate forms. The cross-fox is like the red, 

 but with a dark cross on the back of the neck. The silver fox is entirely 

 silver-gray. The black fox is blackish. 



In character the fox is bold to the point of recklessness, and very wild. 

 He seems to scheme and lay plots to outwit an enemy and is very quick 

 to learn to avoid danger. He apparently loves hunting, enjoying the 

 excitement of the chase even though he does not catch anything. His 

 sense of hearing is so keen that he depends largely on it in this sport. 

 Reynard's weakness for poultry is a source of miuch trouble to farmers. 

 He often carries away his booty with its neck between his teeth and the 

 bird swung across his shoulder. 



These shrewd animals have established runways that seldom pass 

 between houses less than one half mile apart, but that always cross streams 

 over the bridges. The footprints of a fox show four toe pads of equal 

 size, with distinct marks of the claws in front of them — differing from 

 the cat, whose claws are concealed; the prints differ also in that the hind 

 foot does not fall in the footprint of the forefoot as does that of the cat. 

 Unlike the dog, the toes seldom drag, the feet are set in a straight line, 

 and the tail occasionally brushes the snow. 



Foxes live in dens, which are usually abandoned woodchuck burrows 

 in a sandy hillside, enlarged to suit the new occupant. The male seldom 

 enters the den save to carry food to the cubs. He prefers to sleep on a 

 flat rock or ledge in the open, occasionally choosing a hollow tree trunk. 



The bark of the fox is thin, querulous, and husky, with an occasional 

 long wild screech included, the latter being heard in the spring when there 

 are young to be protected. 



The gray fox is a wholly distinct species. He is smaller and of different 

 build, dull yellowish gray, and usually lacks the white tip on the tail. 

 He is distinctly a creature of the forest, preferring to live in hollow legs 

 or tree trunks, subsisting on the small creatures of the forest and at tin.es 

 on the fruits found there. 



The Skunk. — This animal is about two feet long. His typical marking 

 is his covering of long black hair, with a white patch on the back of the 

 neck from which two stripes extend down the back and along the sides of the 

 very large and bushy tail. There is a thin white stripe down the forehead. 

 Some animals have much less white than others, and some have the two 

 white stripes uniting to form a broad band down the back. 



The skunlc prefers to live in clearings and pastures near houses, 

 under one of the farm buildings or in some dry hole not far distant. 



