1936] MAMMALS OP OREGON 285 



their habitat affords them other species of small game, fruits, and 

 berries on which to feed. Often they make their homes among 

 broken rocks, where safe retreats protect them from various enemies. 

 From these the} 7 go forth to hunt their food in the meadows and 

 open woods where mice, gophers, and chipmunks abound, or lie 

 curled up on the rocks to watch for the approach of enemies. 

 Occasionally in the vicinity of the breeding dens or even at other 

 times their sharp little staccato bark is heard, but usually they are 

 silent, shy, and secretive. 



Trapping for fur has greatly reduced their numbers. From 25 

 cents in the days of Suckley and Gibbs their skins have increased 

 in value at times to $20, $50, and $100 each, but so cunning, cautious, 

 and intelligent have the animals become in recognizing and avoiding 

 traps that their extermination over any great area has not been 

 accomplished. 



Now that the value of black and silver foxes, which was due to 

 their scarcity in nature, has been destroyed by the production of 

 large numbers of these choice-color varieties in captivity, there is 

 likely to result a tendency to level the price of all of the color phases 

 of foxes, as the prime skins of red and cross foxes are wonderfully 

 beautiful in their native colors, and after all the value of furs is a 

 matter of fashion and fancy based on real beauty and harmony of 

 colors. 



VULPES MACROTIS NEVADENSIS GOLDMAN 



NEVADA LONG-EARED Fox; NEVADA SWIFT 



Vulpes macrotis nevadensis Goldman, Jour. Wash. Acad. Sci. 21 : 250, 1931. 



Type. Collected at Willow Creek Ranch near Jungo, Humboldt County, Nev., 

 December 14, 1915, by Mike Gill. 



General character's. A little, slender buffy-gray fox with large ears; round, 

 puffy, black-tipped tail ; and small, furry feet. Fur long, soft, and beautiful in 

 winter; short and harsh in summer. Upper parts huffy gray, becoming clear 

 buff and ochraceous on sides r legs, lower surface of tail, and back of ears; 

 throat, back of belly, and inside of ears white; tip and sides of nose, base and 

 tip of tail, blackish. Skull small and slender with smoothly rounded brain case, 

 large audital bullae, and very light dentition. 



Measurements. Somewhat smaller than typical macrotis, which measures: 

 Total length, 770 mm; tail, 300; foot, 128; ear, 68. Weight about 4 pounds. 



Distribution and habitat. These graceful little foxes have been 

 found in the valleys of northern Nevada, southwestern Idaho, and 

 southeastern Oregon, not far beyond the limits of Lower Sonoran 

 Zone valleys, where the species generally ranges. One skin and skull 

 from the Owyhee Valley between Rome and Pollock and several 

 other skins reported by Jewett from the Owyhee Valley are the only 

 actual specimens from Oregon, but the species may be looked for in 

 the Alvord and adjoining valleys that open out into northern Nevada. 



General habits. These smallest of our foxes are among the most 

 graceful and beautiful of the group. They are so swift and quick 

 in their motions that they have little fear of enemies. They live 

 and burrow in the open valleys, where they catch kangaroo rats and 

 small rodents, dig ample burrows in sandy banks, or borrow old 

 badger holes to live in. They are so gentle and unsuspicious that 

 they quickly melt away before settlements and frontier civilization 

 with its dogs, traps, guns, and poison. Only in wide areas of extreme 



