Prairie Red-fox 707 



Length, about 44 inches (1,118 mm.); tail, 16 inches size 

 (406 mm.); hind-foot, 7 inches (177 mm.). The females are 

 about one-tenth smaller. 



An adult taken at Carberry, October 27, 1884, weighed weight 

 10 pounds. 



The general colour is golden-yellow, very pale on the hind- colour 

 quarters, also on the forehead, where it is sprinkled with whitish 

 hairs, and deepening on the back into a reddish-yellow, which 

 extends in a band from shoulder to tail; beginning behind the 

 shoulder, this is sprinkled with whitish hairs, giving a pinkish 

 effect at a short distance. Legs, dark buff; the black on the 

 feet, very limited and mixed with whitish hairs; outer half of 

 ears behind, black; tail, pale brown above, shaded into yellow- 

 ish below with olive tinge; tip of tail, belly, breast, throat and 

 lower jaw, white; on chin and lower parts is often seen dark 

 or black tinge in the white. 



This is indeed a flat enumeration of its flat tints, but gives 

 no conception of the marvellous colour beauties of its exquis- 

 itely blended tawny-pinks, russets, and yellow-browns, set off 

 by the old gold, dull silver, and shining ebony of its extremities. 



Black, Silver, and Cross Foxes occur in this species; these freaks 

 forms are mere colour freaks, and may be found in the same 

 brood with those of ordinary colour. 



A notable example of this is given by A. P. Low, in his 

 "Mammals of Labrador," as follows:' 



"On the Moose River, in 1887, the writer found a litter 

 containing 7 Kits: of these 2 were red, 3 were cross, and the 

 remaining 2 blacks or silver — thus showing that the colour of 

 Foxes no more constitutes varieties than does the difference 

 of colour in a litter of kittens of the common cat. There 

 appears to be a greater proportion of dark-coloured Foxes in 

 the northern region than in the southern." 



' Mam. Labrador Penin., Can. Geol. Surv., i8g6, p. 314 L. 



