Kit-fox 701 



tail-tip is black. The tail-gland is marked by a black spot, as 

 in the other species. There is no black on the ears. 



It may be distinguished from its nearest relative, the Big- 

 eared Swift, by its yellower colour and shorter ears. 



Two races are recognized: 



velox Say, the typical form. 



hebes Merriam, larger, paler, and grayer. 



Life-history. 



This diminutive Fox, no larger than a house cat, is a range 

 characteristic native of the Saskatchewan or upper Campestrian 

 region. 



In Manitoba it was formerly found in the Pembina Hills 

 and westward to the Souris. Alexander Henry, trading on the 

 Red River in 1800-8, had one or two Kits brought to him 

 from Pembina Hills, or, as he calls them. Hair Hills, nearly 

 every season; one year, 1804-5, he had 57; of these, 26 were 

 from Pembina Hills and 31 from Salt River.' In 1873, Dr. E. 

 Coues found^ Kit-foxes common along the Souris River at the 

 Boundary Trail. 



These are all the Manitoba records I can find, and since 

 then the species seems to have disappeared from the Province, 

 though it still abounds along the Saskatchewan and westward 

 to the mountains. 



It is strictly a prairie animal, harbouring in burrows and envi- 



. . RON- 



never venturing far from them, so that it is the most subter- ment 

 ranean of our Foxes. 



Nothing is known of its mating, beyond the fact that the mating 

 creature pairs, and that the pair continue together all summer, 

 probably for life, as the male is active in the care of the young. 



' Journal 1897, p. 259. 



' United SUtes GeoL Surv., 1878, Vol. IV, Bull. 3, Art. XXV, p. 547- 



