10 FOX HUNTING. 



the first States into which fox hunting was first 

 introduced, and these States still hold their places 

 as leading States for the sport. 



Some zoologists claim that the red fox 

 {Vulpes Pennsylvaniciis) probably covers the whole 

 of North America, but east of the Mississippi 

 River, and are hardly found south of the Caro- 

 linas; and that this American red fox is very 

 similar to the European fox; that it is very 

 doubtful if this fox was ever introduced here in 

 any large numbers, and that towards the South it 

 gets scarce and is replaced by the gray fox. 



This merely throws a doubt upon the intro- 

 duction of our swift-running red fox from Europe, 

 originally; but it certainly is a well-known fact 

 among old fox hunters that foxes from any other 

 part of the country than the low counties of 

 Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, and per- 

 haps North Carolina, are not of the same build 

 as the bright red colored, long-legged, active, 

 sw^ift-running, and long-winded Pennsylvania fox 

 that was hunted here in years gone by. And 

 another fact is well known, that the red fox is a 

 very prolific breeder, and might in years extend 

 its species all over these States at least. 



The gray fox is said to range across the 

 country south of the red fox, and both species 

 occur together on the extremes of their range. 



