726 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



NON- I have not seen any good evidence of migration among 



TORY Manitoba Foxes. The fact that they are much more often 

 seen in fall is due, of course, to the fact that the Fox population 

 is then at its maximum; the families are breaking up, and the 

 young are running about in search of the best hunting grounds. 

 Their habits change but little, however, with the changing 

 season. 



SPEED The best speed of an average Fox for i mile is at the 



rate of about 26 miles an hour. This is faster than a Coyote, 

 but slower than a Jack-rabbit. 



A. S. Barton, of Boissevain, sends me an interesting item 

 on this head. "Once," he says, "while mounted on a fast 

 saddle-horse I ran a Fox for half a mile, both of us doing our 

 best, but it was an even race all the way. I should say the 

 horse was doing two-minute time, as his record was 1.51 for 

 the mile." Therefore this Fox was running at the rate of 30 

 miles an hour. Doubtless it was his highest speed, and he 

 must have been an exceptional Fox. 



USE OF No one can long watch a caged Fox in winter time without 



discerning the use to which it puts its great bushy tail. Its 

 nose and pads are the only exposed parts, and these might 

 easily be frost-bitten when it sleeps during severe weather. But 

 it is always careful on lying down to draw these together, then 

 curl the brush around them; it acts both as wrap and respirator. 

 I have many times seen wild ones do this same thing, and am 

 satisfied that the tail is a necessary of life to the Fox, as well as 

 to the Squirrel and Wolf. I believe a Fox or Coyote would 

 die before spring if turned out in the autumn without a tail. 

 The brush is large in proportion to the coldness of the 

 climate. In Foxes from the Southern States it is a very meagre 

 thing, but on the Saskatchewan and further north, it is enor- 

 mous, looking at a distance almost as large as the Fox's body, 

 and, of course, it reaches its greatest size in the depth of winter. 

 The coat in general is developed by cold, but not apparently 

 to the same extent as the tail. 



THE TAIL 



