26o CARNIVORA. 



night will boldly face a dog. It does not run well, nor can it leap like 

 the fox ; its voice is a kind of mewing. It is quite omnivorous, eating 

 flesh, fowl, and fish, and vegetables of every kind. Gray places it in a 

 genus Nyctereutes. 



THE CORSAC. 



The CORSAC, Cams corsac, is an Asiatic species of fox, considerably 

 less than the ordinary fox, found from Mongolia to the Caspian Sea, 

 exclusively in the steppes, never in woods or hills. It is pursued for the 

 sake of its winter fur, in which a large trade is done with China. The 

 Tartars employ not only dogs to capture the Corsac, but hawks of various 

 kinds, from which winged enemies it has no chance of escaping. The 

 color of the fur in summer is red ; in winter more of a fawn-color. 



THE CAAMA. 



The Caama, Canis caavia, is an inhabitant of Southern Africa, where 

 it is in great request for its fur, which is highly esteemed by the natives 

 for the purpose of making " karosses," or mantles. As the Caama is one 

 of the smallest of the foxes, a great number of skins are needed to form 

 a single mantle, and the manufactured article is therefore held in high 

 value by its possessor. Indeed, so valuable is its fur, that it tempts many 

 of the Bechuana tribes to make its chase the business of their lives, and 

 to expend their whole energies in capturing the animal from whose body 

 the much-prized fur is taken. 



THE FENNEC. 



The Fennec, Canis zcrdo (Plate XVIII), is the most graceful of the 

 foxes. Its face is refined and sly, and embellished by a pair of unusually 

 large eyes, and by large, wide ears. Its legs are very fine, and support a 

 slender, supple body terminating in a bushy tail ; everything about it indi- 

 cates activity, intelligence, and acuteness of sense. Nothing escapes its 

 notice ; grasshoppers, lizards, small birds are betrayed by their slightest 

 motions or softest notes. The Fennec is the smallest of all the foxes. It 

 measures, including the tail, about two feet ; the head is very pointed : 

 the large eyes have round pupils ; the ears are nearly as long as the head. 

 It inhabits the whole north of Africa. 



