Prairie Red-fox 715 



both parents were about; it seems quite certain that the father 

 takes an active interest in the young and helps to care for them. 

 All of which tends to prove that our Foxes pair. 



The argument of analogy is also in line, for I have ob- 

 served that in Ontario both parents {V. fulvus) take active 

 care of the young. In Maine, E. Norton says, the male Fox 

 has as much to do with raising the family as the mother has. 



A veteran fox-hunter (J. H. Whitcomb) writes me from 

 Ayer, Mass., on April 3, igog: "A day or two ago I saw a 

 fox-den where I think there were young ones, and close by in 

 the sand a Skunk half buried. I suppose it was for madam, to 

 save her from hunting." 



In Wales, as T. W. Proger writes me, the male Fox is a 

 faithful partner, bringing food to the female while she is suck- 

 ling the young, and has a great affection for his offspring, shar- 

 ing with their mother the labour of feeding and caring for them. 



A touching case of this paternal devotion was sent me 

 later by this same naturalist: 



"Last spring our old keeper destroyed a litter of young 

 cubs, and stopped them into the earth. Four days afterwards 

 the old dog Fox came right up to the earth and began to open 

 it out again, I concluded, to seek his cubs, but he was caught in 

 a trap which the man had set near the blocked-up entrance. 



"I think this is very strong proof that the dog Fox has 

 affection for his young, because he knew very well that the trap 

 was set there on the first night after the deed was done, but his 

 strong desire to find the cubs overcame his habitual caution." 



In view of the evidence direct and by analogy, I think we 

 are safe to believe that in life and manners the Manitoba Fox 

 is as good as its near kin. 



Granting the pairing, the next question is whether it is 

 for the season or for life. There is much evidence of Foxes 

 consorting in pairs after the breeding season, and this points 

 to union for life. The consensus of opinion among hunters 

 and naturalists, according to Dr. Woods Hutchinson,^ agrees 

 with this conclusion. 



* Animal Marriage, Cotem. Review, October, 1904, pp. 485-496. 



