ZOOLOGY. > 39 



living animals, as well as the skins prepared by the Indians, in much greater numbers about 

 the Klamath lakes, and in the Des Chutes basin, than in California. 



In this region the red fox exhibits all the varieties which have been noticed in the eastern 

 States ; the typical red fox, with more or less of black on back, head, and feet ; the black, the 

 cross, the silver grey, all are well known to the hunters, who assert that they have found all 

 these varieties in the same litter. The silver grey has long been, witli the exception of the sea 

 otter, the most valuable fur obtained by the Hudson Bay Fur Company ; good skins formerly 

 commanding from twenty-five to thirty dollars, and fine pairs of skins even much more than 

 this. Now, they, in common with all peltries, have suffered a considerable decline in price. 



I obtained a fine specimen of the silver fox at our depot camp on the upper Des Chutes river. 

 He was killed by a soldier, who had given him the benefit of his musket load, a ball and three 

 buckshot, when close upon him, by which the poor animal's existence was evidently brought to 

 a sudden close. 



VULPES VELOX. 



Kit Fox. 



Baird, General Report Mammals, 1S57, 133. 



The "swift fox," lucus a non lucendo, is another member of the group of animals whose pecu- 

 liar habitat is the dry, desert-like country lying on either side of the Rocky mountains, ex- 

 tending to the Cascade range on the west, and to the timbered lands of the lower Missouri on 

 the east. In the basin of the upper Columbia it is more common than any other species, and I 

 saw, while in that vicinity, a great number of the skins obtained by the hunters and Indians. 

 We had no opportunity of observing the animal except in confinement, nor of testing, by actual 

 experiment, the truth of the report which gives to this small, short-limbed fox such fabulous 

 speed. All those, however, who were familiar with them, as found on the prairie, agreed in saying 

 that its swiftness has been greatly overrated ; that it is even less swift than its congeners, the 

 red and grey foxes ; all of which the appearance and structure of the animal fully confirm. 



The home of this species is evidently the dry, sterile, almost treeless region, which I have 

 mentioned above. We found no traces of it to the westward of the Cascade range in Oregon, 

 or in any part of California. 



VULPES (UROCYON) VIRGINIANUS. 



Gray Fox. 



Canis virginianus, Erxleben, Systema Regni-Aniuialis, 1777, 567 (from Catesby.) 

 Vul-pa virginianus, Dekay, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 45 ; pi. vii, f. 2. 



Am>. & Bach. N. A. Quad. I, 1849, 162 ; pi. xxl. 

 Baird, Gen Rep. Mammals, 1857, 138. 



Sp. Ch. — Head and body a little over two feet in length. Tail rather more than half as long. Tail with a concealed mane 

 of stiff bristly hairs. Prevailing color mixed hoary and black ; convexity and base of ears, sides of neck, edge of belly, 

 and considerable portion of fore legs rusty or cinnamon. Band encircling the muzzle, much dilated on the chin, black. 

 Throat and lower half of face pure white. Tail hoary on the sides ; a distinct stripe above and the tip black ; rusty beneath. 



In Ohio, Kentucky, and Michigan, the most densely wooded of the middle States, the pioneer 

 settler found only the grey fox, or at least that species occupied the territory so nearly exclu- 

 sively that they considered any others as, like themselves, interlopers. As the forest gradually 

 fell before the axe of the woodman, and broad and continuous stretches of waving grain replaced 

 the thickly set trunks of oak, ash, and hickory, the grey fox became gradually more rare, 



