NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 195 



Average of four males: Total length, 844 mm., tail, 280; foot, 

 131; ear, about 50. Weight, 4.5 pounds. 



"These little foxes," Bailey (1931) writes, "live in burrows 

 in the open plains country, usually selecting side hills or the 

 sunny slope of a bank in which to make their dens. They are 

 mainly nocturnal, are wonderfully swift and graceful in their 

 motions, but, unlike the red foxes, are so unsuspecting in their 

 natures as to be readily caught in traps . . . and are so 

 unable to cope with the advanced civilization that they are 

 rapidly disappearing from the face of the earth." Gary in 1902 

 was told that in the Staked Plains of Texas they were at that 

 time scarce in comparison with former years, for in the winter 

 they come readily to poisoned bait put out for coyotes and 

 wolves. This bait the kit foxes will take the first night it is 

 set out, but coyotes wait till later (V. Bailey, 1905). Formerly 

 this was a common species over the plains of eastern Colorado, 

 but by 1911 had "become rare in most sections" (Gary, 1911). 

 It is found still in the western part of Kansas and has been 

 taken as far east as Douglas County (Hibbard, 1933). In 

 1870 Dr. J. A. Allen reported its occurrence "more or less 

 frequently" in western Iowa, but at the present time it is 

 probably gone from this eastern outpost of its range. 



It is probable that the range of the northern race may be con- 

 sidered as from about North Dakota north to the Saskatche- 

 wan River. Bailey (1926) refers those of North Dakota to this 

 race and states that "apparently the kit foxes of the northern 

 Plains at one time covered the whole of the prairies of North 

 Dakota, but at present they are restricted to the western part 

 of the State, and even there they have become very scarce, 

 although a century ago they were one of the common fur 

 animals of the Red River Valley." With the settling of the 

 country they have easily succumbed to trapping, poisoning, 

 and capture by dogs, and reports from various localities in that 

 State indicate that of recent years they have been reduced 

 nearly to the point of extermination. In northwestern Mon- 

 tana, Bailey (1918) speaks of this fox as common over the 

 plains along the eastern edge of Glacier National Park, which 

 it probably enters in the open area at the lower end of St. 

 Mary Lake. There is thus apparently no immediate danger 

 of its extermination in this region, yet on account of its less 

 wary nature it is likely to suffer gradual reduction with the 



