222 Game Survey of the North Central States 



It was determined, however, that two other areas not in the table, now 

 heavily infested with foxes, were at one time foxless. 



One of these lies in the region of the Sandusky Marshes in northwest Ohio. 

 Federal Game Warden Charlton says: 



"There were no foxes in northwest Ohio until 15 years ago (about 1913) 

 when they began to move northwest and became especially numerous in the Lake 

 Erie marshes, where they inhabit straight grassland and are a pest." 



The other lies in the Kankakee Marshes of northwest Indiana. Commis- 

 sioner Miles' 1913 report, in discussing the disappearance of Hungarian part- 

 ridges, states that they were preyed upon by foxes, but that this could hardly have 

 been the primary reason for their failure because they likewise disappeared "in 

 northern Indiana where there are no foxes." Whether Miles referred to all of 

 northern Indiana, or only to certain parts of it, is not known, but it was de- 

 termined during the survey that the foxes which now infest the upper Kankakee 

 were first noticed subsequent to the drainage of that area, which began about 

 1900. No present or recent scarcity of foxes was reported in any other part of 

 Indiana, so it seems a reasonable conjecture that Miles referred to the upper 

 Kankakee or to a region which included it. 



Neither the Charlton nor the Miles reports can of course be accepted as 

 absolutely verified fact. Nevertheless, taking both instances together, it seems 

 probable that a foxless condition existed in certain northern counties of both 

 States which have since become populated with foxes, the change evidently dating 

 from about 1913. 



In the Kankakee area the change might readily be ascribed to drainage, but 

 in the Sandusky area the marshes lie at lake level and cannot be drained. No 

 other physical change sufficient to explain the matter on an ordinary environmental 

 basis are known to me. It seems a fairly sound conclusion, therefore, that some 

 invisible change has made foxes abundant in two areas where they were formerly 

 scarce or absent. 



What Governs the Fox Ratio? There are two popular theories which 

 are entertained by various observers, separately or in combination, to explain why 

 gray foxes have been replaced by reds. 



The first theory is that "the reds run out the grays." The proponents of this 

 theory cite as evidence that even where both species still occur, they tend to 

 occupy different terrain. The evidence gathered during the survey indicates that 

 this is often correct, and positively so in Audrain, Madison, and Perry Counties, 

 Missouri, and in Burnett County, Wisconsin. It may be asked, however, why 

 the reds did not run out the grays in pre-settlement days. This refutes the 

 theory, unless the second theory is brought to its aid, namely, that "reds thrive 

 on civilization grays require wild forest." It is undoubtedly true that the wide- 

 spread increase in reds as compared with grays has coincided in point of time with 

 the intensification of agriculture, and that where both species occur the grays tend 



