82 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



made it scarce. The Eastern Gray Fox ranges 

 naturally from New England to the Mississipjii 

 Valley. In Florida, there is a smaller cousin. In 

 Wisconsin, a larger one, marked with more yel- 

 low. In California, there are several species. 

 It will thus be seen how nuich at home Gray 

 Jacket has made himself. 



Dr. Ellzey, when contrasting the habits of the 

 Gray Fox with the Red, observes that the two 

 animals differ very widely. " So far as my per- 

 sonal observations inform me," he says, " the 

 following are some of the princijjal distinctions. 

 First, as to reproduction, the Red Fox nearly 

 always brings forth its yotmg in an earth den. 



earth. Gray Foxes run before hounds only a 

 short distance, doubling constantly and for a 

 short time, when they either hole in a tree, or 

 climb one. I have known the Red Fox to run 

 straight away nearly twenty miles. Very com- 

 monly they run eight or ten miles away, and then 

 run back in a parallel course. I have known them 

 to run the four sides of a quadrilateral nine or 

 ten miles long by about two miles broad. It is 

 doubtful whether a first-rate specimen of the 

 Red Fox, taken at his best in point of condition, 

 can either be killed or run to earth by any pack 

 of hounds living, such are his matchless speed 

 and endurance. It is hut a sorry pack which 



>v. 



Vhuiograph by Daniel J. Singer 



DESERT GRAY FOX 

 A desert-loving animal which frequently makes its home in a rocky den 



the Gray Fox generally in a hollow log or tree 

 or, at most, under a rock. I have seldom seen 

 a Gray with more than five, and often with only 

 four yoimg. I have never seen a Red with less 

 than five. I have seen one with nine, and sev- 

 eral with seven. I think it certain, therefore, 

 that the Reds are more prolific. Second, as to 

 hunting for prey and subsistence. The Reds 

 are holder in pursuit, and hunt over a much 

 greater territory than the Grays. Whether the 

 Grays ever climb trees in pursuit of prey I am 

 uncertain, but they take to a tree as readily as 

 a cat when run hard by hounds. I think it nearly 

 certain that they climb for persimmons and 

 grapes. Red Foxes never climb trees imder anv 

 circumstances: when hard run th-v cro to the 



fails to kill or tree a Gray Fo.x in an hour's run. 

 The young of the Gray Fox closely resemble 

 small blackish pu]ipies ; those of the Red Fox 

 are distinctly vulpine in physiognomy when only 

 a few hours old." 



" The Fox from its occasional misdeeds," says 

 Dr. A. K. Fisher. " is looked upon by the major- 

 ity of mankind as a deep-dyed villain that de- 

 votes its entire life to robbery and derives 

 its forage from the chicken yard or duck pen. 

 As a matter of fact, within the localities where 

 Foxes are abundant, it is comparatively rare that 

 poultry is destroyed by them. On all well regu- 

 lated farms, chickens are housed at night, and 

 the Fox necessarily turns his attention to field 

 mice, rabbits, ground squirrels, and insects. 



