THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



mate and to every use to wliich his master 

 chooses to put him. 



THE DOG DOES NOT BOAST OF THE FOX 

 ON HIS FAMILY TREE 



For a long time it was thought that 

 foxes should be included among the an- 

 cestors of the dog. They are verv dog- 

 like in general appearance and in many 

 of their habits. 



I have had many American red foxes 

 in captivity, and one which I reared from 

 a puppy became almost as tame as a dog. 

 He followed me on my walks and had the 

 run of the house. Foxes of this species 

 whine, yelp, and bark, and, like dogs and 

 wolves, smile and wag their tails when 

 pleased, bury food which they cannot eat 

 at tlie time, and turn round and round on 

 their beds before lying down. Rut in 

 s[)ite of these similarities, and in spite of 

 the fact that they will sometimes make 

 friends with domesticated dogs, and even 

 with wolves, it seems that they are not 

 closely related to either. 



As far as I am aware, no one lias ever 

 succeeded in obtaining a cross between a 

 fox and a dog. The late ]\lr. .\. D. Hart- 

 lett, for years superintendent of the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens in London, after a long 

 series of experiments and observations, 

 not only failed to procure a cross himself, 

 but states that he never heard of a single 

 well-authenticated case of such a cross 

 having been made. 



WOLVES, JACKALS, DIN.G0S, AND DOGS 

 INTERBREED 



On the other hand, wolves, jackals, and 

 dingos cross freely with domestic dogs 

 and the progeny is fertile. I have myself 

 seen many crosses between American tim- 

 ber wolves and dogs. Some shown me 

 by Superintendent Benson, of Norum- 

 bega Park, near Boston, some years ago, 

 were the offspring of a great Dane dog 

 and a female wolf. They were finely 

 built, high-strung, very wolfish-looking 

 dogs, the characteristics of the wild par- 

 ent distinctly predominating. 



In Kansas I once saw two well-grown 

 puppies whose mother was a coyote and 

 father an unknown dog. One was gray- 

 ish, somewhat like the mother; the other 

 was black. They had wolfish heads and 

 snarled like coyotes. They were very 



nervous and at every opportunity ran 

 away from me with their tails between 

 their legs. 



Both the American gray wolf and the 

 smaller prairie wolf, or coyote, are easy to 

 domesticate, though it has been my ex- 

 perience that they never become quite as 

 tame and tractable as domestic dogs. 



I had one coyote, which we named 

 Romulus, for six years, and a good part 

 of the time he was loose. He followed 

 my wife and me on our tramps through 

 the woods and over tlie mountains, some- 

 times at heel, sometimes ranging out in 

 front. He would come at a call, and if 

 within hearing would respond instantly 

 to an imitation of the long-drawn howl 

 of the coyote. 



A PL-WFUL, AFFECTIONATE COYOTE 



He was very affectionate and would 

 smile and wag his tail to express his joy 

 at meeting us, and throw himself on his 

 back as an invitation to us to caress him. 

 He was playful, too, and given one end 

 of a rope or strap would do his best to 

 pull it away from us. While in. this plav- 

 ful mood he would catch up the skirt of 

 a coat or dress and walk along with us, 

 proudly smiling and wagging his tail. 

 But he was very high-strung and nervous, 

 and if we attempted to hold him in the 

 presence of strangers he would bite and 

 get away as quickly as possible. Once 

 loose he was no longer afraid and \\ould 

 often run right in and tear the stranger's 

 clothing. 



Most writers refer to the coyote as 

 cowardly, but I have seen nothing which 

 seems to justify this estimate of his char- 

 acter. He simply isn't foolhardy. He's 

 like the Irishman who said he preferred 

 to have his enemies call him a coward to- 

 day to having his friends say "How nat- 

 ural he looks" tomorrow. 



I will give an example of what I mean. 

 One bitter winter day I was tramping on 

 snow-shoes through a Xew Hampshire 

 forest with a coyote at my heels. .As 

 we were passing a deserted cabin, three 

 fox-hounds which had taken refuge from 

 I he recent storm came leaping out in 

 full cry. 



The coyote, outnumbered and taken bv 

 surprise, drifted away over the snow like 

 a puff of gray smoke, the hounds in pur- 



