44 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



GENUS VULPES. 



Nose pointed. Head more triangular than in the preceding. Pupils linear. Eyes oblique. 

 Upper incisors nearly vertical. Tail long, bushy and cylindrical, without pendulous hairs. 

 Have a fetid odor, and burrow in the earth. Nocturnal. Smaller and more numerous 

 than the preceding. 



THE RED FOX. 



VOLPES PBLVUS. 



PLATE VII. FIG. 1. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Red Fox. Lewis & Clark, Vol. 2, p. 159. 



Canisfulvus. Desh. Mammalogie, p. 203. 



Hcd Fox. Sabine, App. Frankl. Journey, p. 656. 



C ixulpes? and C.fuhus. Harlan, Fauna, p. 86 and 89. 



The Red Fox. Godman, Am. Nat. Hist. Vol. 1, p. 276. 



American Fox. Richardson, F. B. A. Vol. 1, p. 91, pi. 6. 



Canis { Vulpes vulgaris) vuipes 1 The Fox. Id. ib. p. 97. 



Cross Fox. Id. ib. p. 93, (Variety.) 



The Red Fox. Bmmons, Mass. Report, 1840, p. 30. 



Characteristics. Reddish above, whitish beneath. Ears behind, and anterior part of legs 



varying from hght brown to deep black. Length 3-4 feet. 

 Var. a, decussatus, with black stripes across the neck and shoulders. 

 Var. b, argentatus, black entirely. 



Description, (from a large male killed in Queens county, January.) Snout small and 

 pointed. Length of head, 7-0. 



Color. Anterior part of the head, the flanks and back, bright reddish, more particularly 

 along the back and foreshoulders, where the color is more intense. Margin of the upper jaw 

 and chin, pure white. Throat, breast, and a narrow space along the belly, whitish, mixed 

 with brown on the latter. Fore and hind feet black in front, the black on the latter extending 

 up on the outside of the thigh. Toes margined with fulvous. Brush ample, reddish, com- 

 posed of two sorts of hairs ; the one, black at the base and reddish at the tips ; the other, 

 much longer, entirely black, and giving to the whole tail a dusky appearance. 



Head and body, 29-0. 



Tail (vertebrae), • 12-0. 



Ditto, tips of hairs, 16*0. 



The Red Fox varies considerably in weight and size ; the specimen above described weighed 

 eleven pounds, and I have heard of others weighing fifteen pounds, but such are not common : 

 the more usual weight is from eight to ten pounds. Although this fox burrows well, yet it is 

 not uncommon to find them taking possession of the burrows of the skunk, for the purpose 



