88 THE COLISHE. 



of trees more in summer than in winter, probably because in hot 

 weather they become more speedily exhausted. 



The animal has not so rank and penetrating an odour as has the 

 European Fox, but it seems to afford good sport to hunters. It does 

 not, however, run far ahead of the hounds, but keeps about seventy to 

 a hundred yards in front of them. A two hours' chase is said to be 

 generally necessary to capture it, but a very fleet pack has been known 

 to run it down in forty minutes. Next to deer-hunting the chase of 

 the Colish is the favourite sport in the Southern States of the Union. 



From three to four young are produced in a litter. This occurs be- 

 tween the middle of March and the middle of April in Carolina, and 

 somewhat later further north. It makes its home in caves or fissures 

 in rocks, or holes in the ground, sometimes even in stone walls. 

 Frantzius found four cubs in a cavity in a wall ; they had a woolly 

 coat, blackish grey above and whitish below, with whitish-grey markings 

 on the muzzle and feet. We found the young to be of a dark brown 

 hue, with the tips of the hairs of the back white. 



The coloration of the adult a good deal resembles that of a short- 

 haired specimen of C. magellanicus. The general colour of the trunk is 

 a grizzled grey, with the sides of the body and legs more or less rufous. 

 The tail is dusky above, light chestnut-coloured below, dark at its 

 termination, with a dark patch on its dorsum, and with a dorsal patch of 

 stiff, bristly hairs, the existence of which has led to its generic separation 

 as "Urocyon." There is a dark mark along the middle of the back 

 extending to this tail-patch. The chin is black, and there is a black spot 

 between the nose and the eye, with a light mark in front and behind it. 

 The backs of the ears are of a rusty tint ; within there are whitish hairs. 

 Throat white or whitish, and underparts of the body yellowish white. 

 White on the side of the head, behind the mouth, and beneath the eye. 



Habitat. United States and Central America. 



Centimeters. 



Length from snout to root of tail 63 '5 



of tail 28'5 



from heel to end of longest digit 13-5 



of ear 5-3 



