The Dog Family 



97 



THE FOXES. 



FOXES form a very well-marked group. They have very pointed muzzles, strong though 

 slightly built bodies, very fine thick fur, often beautifully coloured and very valuable, bushy tails, 

 pricked-up ears, and eyes with pupils which contract by day into a mere slit. They are quite 

 distinct from dogs (although wolves are not), and will not interbreed, though stories are told to 

 the contrary. The smell of a fox is disgusting to a dog, and quite sufficient to distinguish it. 



If the present writer takes a simpler view of the kinds and species of foxes than that 

 adopted by many naturalists, he must plead to a study of the subject on slightly different lines 

 than those usually followed. The skins of all foxes are valuable, some more than others. But 

 they are sent in hundreds of thousands, and from all parts of the northern hemisphere, to 

 London to the great fur-sales. There these differences can be studied as they can be studied 



Photo l>y C. Reid} [ mshaw, N.B. 



FOX CUBS. 

 Fox cubs are born from March 25 till three weeks later, the time when young rabbits, their best food, are most numerous. 



nowhere else. As the habits and structure of foxes are much alike, allowing for differences 

 of climate, and the discrepancies in size, not more than can be accounted for by abundance or 

 scarcity of food, it seems pretty certain that these animals are some of the few, almost alone 

 among mammals, showing almost every variety of colouring, from black to white, from splendid 

 chameleon-red to salmon -pink, and many exquisite shades of brown, grey, and silver. At the 

 Hudson Bay Company's sales you may see them all, and trace the differences and gradations over 

 whole continents. The most important are those of North America. There the EED CANADIAN 

 Fox, of a ruddier hue than brown, shades off into the yellow and grey CROSS Fox of farther north. 

 But of these there are many varieties. Then farther north still comes an area where red foxes, 

 cross foxes, and black foxes are found. The black fox, when the fur is slightly sprinkled with 

 white, is the famous SILVER Fox. This and the black fox are also found in North Siberia 

 and Manchuria. Farthest north we find the little stunted ARCTIC FOXES. In the Caucasus 

 and Central Asia large yellowish-red foxes live, and in Japan and China a very bright red 

 variety. A small grey fox lives in Virginia, and is hunted with hounds descended from packs 



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