276 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF THE UNITED STATES 



C. nifus Audubon & Bachman. Texas red wolf. Color reddish 

 brown mixed with irregular patches of black; upper surface and end of 

 tail black; length 1,200 mm.; tail 325 mm.; form slender; fur smooth: 

 southwestern Texas. 



C. la trans Say. Cayote; prairie wolf. Color fulvous or grayish, 

 clouded with black; tail tipped with black; muzzle sharp; length 1,219 

 mm.; tail 394 mm.; hind foot 179 mm.; weight about 25 lbs.: humid 

 prairies and woodlands of northern Mississippi Valley, in Iowa and 

 Minnesota and westward to the Rockies in Alberta. 



C nehracensis Merriam. Plains cayote. Similar to C. latrans, but 

 a little smaller and paler; upper parts whitish, sparingly mixed with 

 black hairs; under parts white: Great Plains from Canada to Texas. 



Subspecies oj C. nehracensis 



C. n. nehracensis Merr. Nebraska and eastern Colorado to Montana 

 and Canada. 



C. n. texensis Bailey. Color darker and brighter: Texas and 

 Oklahoma. 



C. testes Merr. Mountain cayote. Size large, but somewhat 

 smaller than C. latrans; color similar but darker; ears and tail large : high- 

 lands and mountains of the Great Basin and Rockies and the Sierra 

 Nevada from British Columbia to Mexico. 



C. microdon Merr. Color cinnamon rufous; length 1,070 mm.; tail 

 320 mm.; hind foot 186 mm.; teeth very small; hind foot whitish above: 

 lower Rio Grande region. 



C. mearnsi Merr. Similar to C. microdon in size; color fulvous and 

 very rich and bright: Arizona. 



C. estor Merr. Similar to C. mearnsi in size and color, but paler, 

 being a pale desert form: eastern Cahfornia, Nevada and Utah. 



C. ochropus Eschscholtz. Similar to C. latrans, but smaller and 

 darker; ears large; head small: San Joaquin Valley, California. 



2. Vulpes Oken. Red foxes. Upper incisors not lobed; legs rather 

 short; tail bushy, with soft under-fur: about 20 species, all in the 

 northern hemisphere, 10 in the United States, all valuable fur-bearing 

 animals. Their dens are holes in the ground dug by themselves, and 

 they bear 4 to 9 at a birth. 



Key to the United States Species of Vulpes 



ai In the eastern and central States. 



bi In the States east of the Mississippi V. fulva. 



bo In Nova Scotia and Labrador V. rubicosa. 



