THE FOXES 567 



circumstances ; when hard run they go to earth. Gray foxes run before hounds 

 only a short distance, doubling constantly and for a short time, when they either 

 hole in a tree or climb one. I have known the red fox to run straight away nearly 

 twenty miles. Very commonly they run eight or ten miles away, and then run back 

 in a parallel course. I have known them to run the four sides of a quadrilateral, 

 nine or ten miles long by about two miles broad. It is doubtful whether a first-rate 

 specimen of the red fox, taken at his best in point of condition, can either be killed 

 or run to earth by any pack of hounds living, such are his matchless speed and en- 

 durance. It is but a sorry pack which fails to kill or tree a gray fox in an hour's 

 run. The young of the gray fox closely resemble small blackish puppies ; those of 

 the red fox are distinctly vulpine in physiognomy when only a few hours old." 



The smallest and prettiest of the North American species is the kit 

 fox (C. velox}, which derives its Latin name from its extraordinary 

 fleetness. In this fox the length of the head and body is only twenty-four inches, 

 and that of the tail, without the hair, nine inches. The animal is characterized by the 

 shortness and stoutness of its limbs, standing relatively lower than the common fox, 

 and also by the bushy tail being less than half the length of the body. The thickly- 

 furred ears are also relatively shorter than in the common fox. Another distinctive 

 characteristic is the length and abundance of the under-fur, which is often visible ex- 

 ternally and also by the long hairs clothing the soles of the feet. In color the kit fox 

 is somewhat variable, but a specimen described and figured by Professor Mivart 

 has the back and tail dark gray, mingled with black and white hairs, the tip of the 

 tail black, the cheeks, shoulders, flanks, and the outer surfaces of the limbs rufous, 

 and the under parts white. The kit fox is confined to Northwestern America, 

 where it inhabits open treeless districts, constructing its own burrows in the ground. 

 It was formerly abundant on the plains of Columbia, and also in those lying between 

 the Saskatchewan and the Missouri rivers, but it has of late years considerably de- 

 creased in numbers. 



A t' F Widely different from all other species is the Arctic fox ( C. Lago- 



PUS} characterized by the difference between its summer and winter 

 dress, as well as by certain peculiarities in its form and habits. This species, which 

 appears to inhabit nearly the whole of the known Arctic lands, descending in Amer- 

 ica to latitude 50, and in the Old World to 60, has a less pointed muzzle, and 

 much shorter and more rounded ears than any other fox, while the hinder parts of 

 the cheeks are bordered with a kind of ruff of long hairs, and the soles of the feet 

 are covered with a thick coat of woolly hair, which is most developed in winter. In 

 the summer dress the hair is of moderate length, and is frequently of a brown or 

 dull rufous color on the head, back, outer sides of the limbs and tail ; the under 

 parts being yellowish white. The under-fur is bluish gray, and the roots of the 

 long hairs are also of the same tint ; and when this bluish gray extends farther up 

 the hairs than usual the general color of the fur is of the same hue. In other cases, 

 as in the accompanying illustration, the whole of the upper parts and the outer sides 

 of the limbs are bluish gray, while the flanks and under parts are almost white. 



With the assumption of the winter dress the fur becomes longer and thicker, 

 and the white hairs which are scattered through the summer coat gradually 



