THE FOX AND HIS FUR 203 



profitable after his death. The probability is that 

 many hunting men have never seen a fox's skin 

 except in the hundred tatters of brown to which 

 the hounds reduce it after a run. However, I en- 

 deavoured to find a typical skin of our common fox, 

 and I have examined and measured a good many 

 skins. The one I have selected is both fine and 

 typical. The length of the skin after preservation, 

 from the tip of the nose to the end of the tag, 

 is exactly 48 inches, of which the brush measures 

 1 8 inches. The length of the snout from between 

 the ears to the point of the nose is in its present 

 condition 5 inches, but must have been more 

 than this in the living animal. The ears are very 

 large, measuring 4^ inches from the root to the point. 

 The fur is in magnificent condition ; the prevailing 

 tint is a bright rufus yellow, light on the back and 

 graduating into a darker tint about the shade of a red 

 deer's coat below. The brush is much darker than 

 the rest of the fur, many long very dark brown hairs 

 being interspersed. Along the back-bone there is 

 a large number of hairs tipped with white, increasing 

 in prominence towards the root of the tail, until the 

 lower part of the back is almost grey. Underneath the 

 longer hairs is a brown woolly undercoat. The chest, 

 abdomen, and under side of the forearm and hind 



