566 



THE CARNIVORES 



and there being also a dark patch near its root, connected with a dark mark run- 

 ning along the back. The chin is black, as is a spot on each side between the nose 

 and the eye ; the outer surfaces of the ears are rusty red ; the middle of the throat is 

 nearly or quite white ; while the under parts of the body are yellowish white. The 

 gray or, as it is often called, the Virginian fox, is found from the United States to 

 Central America. 



Dr. Ellzey, when contrasting the habits of the gray fox with the red American 

 variety of the common species, observes that the two animals differ very widely in 

 these respects. " So far as my personal observations inform me," he says, "the fol- 

 lowing are some of the principal distinctions. First, as to reproduction : the red fox 

 nearly always brings forth its young in an earth den, the gray fox generally in a 



THE GRAY FOX. 



(One-eighth natural size.) 



hollow log or tree, or, at most, under a rock. The last one I found with her young 

 was a gray. The young, only a few hours old, were in the hollow stump of an old 

 rotten tree, broken off about five feet high. As I came up, the old one jumped out 

 of the top of the stump, and ran off. I looked down the hole, and saw at the bot- 

 tom five young ones, scarcely dry. I have seldom seen a gray with more than 

 five, and often with only four young. I never found a red with less than five. I 

 have seen one with nine, and several with seven. I think it certain, therefore, that 

 the reds are more prolific. Second, as to hunting for prey and subsistence : the 

 reds are bolder in pursuit, and hunt over a much greater territory than the grays. 

 Whether the grays ever climb trees in pursuit of prey I am uncertain, but they take 

 to a tree as readily as a cat when run hard by hounds. I think it is nearly certain 

 that they climb for persimmons and grapes. Red foxes never climb trees under any 



