FO 



which of itself leads to nothing, as no means have yet 

 been discovered by which the colours of animals can 

 in any satisfactory way be connected with their habits. 



THREE-COLOURED Fox ( V. cinert'o-argcntus). This 

 is a native of the middle and southern regions of 

 America. The name it may be observed might, in 

 point of fact, be applied to the other species, as the 

 white, the fawn colour, and the black are combined 

 in the fur of almost all foxes. I3ut improper as it 

 may be, it must be retained, as it has been so long 

 received, and as we arc ignorant of the name which 

 this animal bears in the middle and southern regions 

 of North America. It is strange what very little 

 care is taken by travellers to ascertain the proper 

 names of the animals of those countries which they 

 traverse, actually when the means of such information 

 are entirely within their reach. The influence which 

 such information must exercise on the progress of 

 natural history, would give a double value to their 

 researches.. The history of any species can evidently 

 be the result only of a very long series of observa- 

 tions, which it is utterly impossible for an}' single 

 individual to make. To the first observations of this 

 description the second should be naturally attached, 

 for the purpose of giving them their just portion of 

 utility, the third to the second, and so on, until all the 

 necessary information is acquired. We are liable 

 without some such plan to endless repetitions, which 

 can produce nothing but regret for the labour which 

 has been expended on them. The knowledge of the 

 native name, in fact, is essentially necessary to enable 

 us to know of what animal any traveller speaks, and 

 of which, in all probability, he cites but a few charac- 

 teristics, very insufficient for the purposes of a clear 

 distinction. The ancients on this point seem to have 

 been much more careful than the moderns. Such 

 reflections as these are sure to suggest themselves to 

 the mind, when we come to consider the foxes of 

 North America. There are few animals of which 

 travellers have spoken more, but there are few whose 

 history has been treated of with less detail, and with 

 less attention to any thing like method. 



From the range of latitude over which foxes having 

 the colours upon which this name is founded extend, 

 we may naturally suppose that there are many varieties 

 of colour among them. The most common markings 

 are described thus : Upper parts of the body greyish 

 black ; head greyish yellow ; ears and sides of the 

 neck bright red ; throat and cheeks white ; skin 

 black ; abdomen yellow ; tail yellow brindled with 

 black and wholly black at the tip. This species or 

 variety has been described as a South American 

 animal by D'Azzara ; and as a North American one 

 by various authors. Its colours are those of several 

 of the other coloured varieties blended ; and there- 

 fore it may be a mongrel of many breeds, which 

 word, as in the case of dogs, is in our opinion far 

 more applicable to the differently coloured foxes, 

 than the word " species," or even the word " variety." 

 The distinctions between them are all too small for 

 being useful in natural history. 



THE RED Fox ( V.fulcus). This species is not 

 absolutely red, but of a bright reddish brown or 

 orange. It is a native of North America, and belongs 

 to the class of foxes which, in locality, may be con- 

 sidered as intermediate between the arctic ones and 

 those of the warmer latitudes. It was long supposed 

 that this was merely a coloured variety of the common 

 fox ; but a fine specimen presented to the Zoological 



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Society of London by Lord Clinton, afforded an 

 opportunity of contrasting the two, and the following 

 are Dr. Richardson's remarks : 



" On comparing a fine specimen of the English fox 

 with an American fox, each was observed to have dark 

 markings on the sides of the muzzle, posterior parts of 

 the ears, and fore parts of the legs ; the tails of both 

 have an intermixture of black hairs, and are tipped 

 with white. The red fox, however, differs in its 

 long and very fine fur, and in the brilliancy of its 

 colours. Its cheeks are rounder, its nose thicker, 

 shorter and more truncated. Its eyes are nearer 

 to each other ; its ears are shorter ; the hair on its 

 legs is a great deal longer ; and its feet are much 

 more woolly beneath, the hair extending beyond the 

 claws, which are shorter than those of the European 

 fox. In short, the red fox differs from the European 

 one in nearly the same characters that distinguish 

 the grey American wolf from the Pyrennean one, in 

 the breadth and capacity of its feet for running on 

 the snow, the quantity of long hair clothing the 

 back part of the cheeks, which in conjunction with the 

 shorter ears and nose, give the head a more compact 

 appearance. The red fox has a much finer brush than 

 the European one, and is altogether a larger animal." 



There are, however, so many foxes in the wilds of 

 America, especially in the northern part of that con- 

 tinent, and they differ so much in colour in some of 

 the specimens, approach so nearly in others, and are so 

 exactly the same in structure, and so nearly the same 

 in manners, that it would be no easy or perhaps even 

 possible matter to form a systematic arrangement of 

 them ; and after such an arrangement had been formed 

 with the greatest care and discrimination it would be 

 of very little value ; because it belongs to that class 

 of minute distinctions which lead to no conclusion, 

 and which are serviceable only in so far as they 

 enable the showman to give a different name to every 

 animal in his living collection, or to every skin in his 

 museum, which may happen to have different colours 

 and markings from others. The following observa- 

 tions by the eminent naturalist from whom we have 

 just quoted, are very much to the purpose. " Foxes," 

 says Dr. Richardson, " are distinguished by the 

 traders under the names of black, silver, cross, red, 

 and blue foxes. The two former are considered by 

 the Indians to be the same kind, varying accidentally 

 in the colour of the pelt. The black foxes are very 

 rare and fetch a high price. The cross and red 

 foxes differ from each other only in colour, being of 

 the same shape and size. Their shades of colour are 

 not disposed in any determinate manner, some indi- 

 viduals approaching in that respect very nearly to the 

 silver fox, others exhibiting every link of the chain 

 down to nearly a uniform deep or orange-yellow, the 

 distinguishing colour of the pure red fox. It is re- 

 ported both by the Indians and traders, that all the 

 varieties have been found in the same litter. The 

 blue fox is seldom seen here, and is supposed to come 

 from the southward." The case of the fox is by no 

 means a solitary instance of confusion introduced into 

 the nomenclature of animals, by those who hunt wild 

 ones without any reference to science. 



THE LITTLE 'YELLOW Fox (V. coi-sac) is smaller 

 than the common fox, and the localities which it in- 

 habits are of a different character. It is not found in 

 woods or thickets, but in the open wastes. With some 

 differences of appearance, it seems to extend from the 

 steppes of Siberia to central Africa ; and may be the 

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