CANIS VELOX. 105 



the earth. Nevertheless, Audubon relates * that a mounted horseman 

 had no difficulty in keeping up with one and overrunning it. This may, 

 however, have been an exceptionally slow individual. We ourselves 

 have been struck with the rapidity of motion displayed by a specimen 

 in captivity, enclosed in a large cage in our Zoological Gardens. 



The Kit Fox was formerly to be found on the open plains between 

 the Saskatchewan and the Missouri, and in the plains of Columbia, 

 burrowing in the earth in a country totally destitute of trees and bushes. 

 It appears, indeed, to be unknown in forest-regions. Audubon brought 

 one back with him to New York, when it was placed in a large cage- 

 box two thirds sunk beneath the surface of the ground and half filled 

 with earth. When thus allowed a comparatively large space and plenty 

 of earth to burrow in, the Pox immediately began to make its way 

 into the loose ground, and soon had dug a hole large enough to conceal 

 itself entirely. It fed regularly, and drank more water than foxes 

 generally do. 



Like other foxes, C. velox appears to vary in the colour of its pelage. 

 Two skins in the British Museum are remarkable for their beautifully 

 soft, pale, and abundant fur ; in these the sides of the muzzle are black. 



A living specimen in the Gardens, represented in our Plate XXV., 

 is somewhat darker than the skins in the British Museum, but agrees 

 with them in having the back and tail dark grey (with black and white 

 hairs), a black tip to the tail, rufous cheeks, shoulders, flanks, and 

 outer side of the legs, and the fur underneath the body white. 



According to Bairdf, its underfur is remarkably full and dense, 

 much more so than in the Common Fox, while the interspersed long 

 hairs exceed the underfur so little in length that the latter can be readily 

 seen. The limbs are rather short but stout, and the feet are shorter and 

 the body lower than in the Red Fox. Long woolly hairs conceal the 

 naked pads of the paws more or less completely from view. The ears 

 are much smaller than in the Common Fox, and are thickly and densely 

 coated with fur. The tail is rather short relatively, being decidedly less 

 than half the length of the head and body, but very bushy. 



* Op. cit. p. 15. t Op. cit. p. 133. 



P 



