286 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 



[No. 55 



deserts can they be found today, and tomorrow they will be gone. 

 Gentle intelligent, and affectionate as any dog, they have a bright- 

 ness arid keenness that should make them most attractive pets. The 

 two that the writer has had in captivity for brief periods have 

 thrilled him with their expressive eyes and their quick confidence, 

 alertness, and intelligence. Why not keep such animals instead of 

 cats and dogs and save a few from extermination? 



UROCYON CINEREOARGENTEUS TOWNSENDI MEBRIAM 

 OREGON GRAY Fox; TREE Fox; SKETCH-LOO-IS of the Klamath (C. H. M.) 



Urooyon cdtifornicus townsendi Merriam, North Amer. Fauna No. 16, p. 103, 

 1899. 



Type. Collected at Baird, Shasta County, Calif., by C. H. Townsend, Novem- 

 ber 11, 1893. 



General characters. Slightly smaller than the red fox, with relatively 

 shorter legs, smaller ears, longer and more curved claws, and shorter, coarser 

 fur. Skull with conspicuous widely separated temporal ridges. Tail laterally 

 compressed and with dorsal crest. Winter pelage, upper parts dark pepper 

 and salt gray, the white and black-tipped outer hairs obscuring the wood-brown 

 underfur ; muzzle and top and tip of tail black ; back of ears, sides, legs, and 

 under surface of tail bright tawny or hazel brown ; throat, breast, and back of 

 belly white. Summer pelage, lighter gray with brighter, more orange sides and 

 legs; nursing females have pinkish fur on belly. Young, black or dusky at 

 birth, soon showing buffy bellies and pattern of adults ; tip of tail always black. 



Measurements. Adult male from type locality : Total length, 1,030 mm ; tail, 

 390; foot, 145; ear (dry), 65. Skull: Basal length, 118; zygomatic width, 70. 

 Weight 4% to 10% pounds. 



Distribution and habitat. The gray fox ranges the Upper Son- 

 oran Zone valleys of northern California and north through the 

 interior valleys of western Oregon to the Columbia (fig. 65). It is 



common in the Rogue 

 River and Umpqua Val- 

 leys, and a few are re- 

 corded as far north as 

 Portland. In 1855 Suck- 

 ley and Gibbs reported 

 them as common on the 

 Klamath River and as oc- 

 curring at The Dalles 

 (1860, p. 113), and re- 

 cently some bones were 

 found in Skeleton Cave 

 near Bend on the east side 

 of the Cascades. A few 

 skins were found in a 

 closet of the fur house at 

 Fort Vancouver, Wash., 

 but these were thought to have come from southern Oregon. 

 Usually the gray fox is found in open timber or chaparral valleys 

 and especially in rocky situations in Upper Sonoran Zone. 



General habits. In. motions these little foxes are exceedingly 

 quick at dodging and turning but not very swift in a race, so they 

 must of necessity take advantage of rocky or brushy cover, or when 

 hard pressed, even take refuge up the first tree that offers escape 



FIGURE 65. Range of the gray fox, Urocyon cine- 

 reoargenteus townsendi, in Oregon. 



