FOX-HUNTING IN NEW ENGLAND 19 



ish red; the outsides of the ears and the fronts of 

 the legs and feet are black; the chin and usually the 

 tip of the tail, white; and the tail darker than the 

 body, most of its hairs being tipped with black. 

 The eyes are near together and strongly express, 

 as does the whole head, the alert and cunning na- 

 ture of the animal. 



The cross fox, much scarcer than the red, is 

 very beautiful. It is thus described by Thompson; 

 "A blackish stripe passing from the neck down the 

 back and another crossing it at right angles over 

 the shoulders; sides, ferruginous, running into 

 gray on the back; the chin, legs, and under parts of 

 the body black, with a few hairs tipped with white; 

 upper side of the tail, gray; under side and parts 

 of the body adjacent, pale yellow; tail tipped with 

 white. The cross upon the shoulders is not al- 

 ways apparent, even in specimens which, from the 

 fineness of the fur, are acknowledged to be cross 

 foxes. Size the same as the common fox." 



The black or silver fox is so rare in New Eng- 

 land that to see one is the event of a lifetime. 

 The variety is as beautiful and valuable as rare. 

 Its color is sometimes entirely of a shining black, 

 except the white tip of the tail, but oftener of a 

 silvery hue, owing to an intermixture of hairs 

 tipped with white. It has probably always been 

 uncommon here, for it is said to have been held 

 in such estimation by the Indians of this region. 



