FOXES Ayn SNOW- SHOES 201 



nvdv to warn tlieiii of (laiii^'er, and tliey o1)eye(l wlialever 

 signal slie gave tlieni and disap[)eared as quickly as tlie 

 little grouse hide under the leaves/* 



" Are there as many kinds of Foxes as there are 

 Rabbits, or only one kind?" asked Nat. 



" There are about ten different kinds, or species^ as 

 the Wise Meu sa}' (I wish you to remember the word). 

 Some of them are really the same animal, who wears 

 somewhat different fur, according to the place Avhere 

 he lives. Take this Fox of Nat's for example. We 

 call him tlie Red Fox, being iu Latiu Viilpes fulvus.^ 

 You see, he has a coat of rust color and yeUow. lie 

 has two half brothers ; one called the Cross Fox, uot 

 because he has a bad temper, but because his color is 

 partly red and yellow and partly ashy l)ro\vn, Avhicli 

 makes a cross mark on his shouhlers. He is also related 

 to another half brother of our Ked Fox, the Black or 

 Silver Fox, whose coat varies from dark gray to black 

 with a sprinkling of white-tipped hairs and a white tail 

 tip. This condition of fur is prized because it is so 

 very rare, and as much as one or two hundred dollars 

 has been [)aid for a single skin. No one but the very 

 Wise Men can tell these brothers apart half the time, 

 and even one of the wisest of these calls our common 

 animal the Red-Cross-Silver-IUack Fox." 



'' Oh, dear, what a lot to remember, and after all, that 

 is only one kind, — species^ 1 mean." 



"• There are a couple of others, very distinct varieties 

 that you can easily remember, — the Gray Fox and the 

 beautiful white Arctic Fox of the Polar regions. 



" The Gray is the common Fox of the southern parts 

 1 See plate, page 158. 



