198 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



"Open level sandy ground is the preferred habitat of the 

 kit fox," for here it can easily excavate its burrows, and this 

 type of ground is likewise preferred by numerous small rodents, 

 such as kangaroo rats and pocket mice, which form the chief 

 food of this little fox. " These special adaptations may account 

 for the rather sharp limitation observable in the general dis- 

 tribution of this type of fox, which man's presence further 

 restricts." Their shallow burrows are dug in open ground and 

 may have one to four entrances. Grinnell, Dixon, and Lins- 

 dale (1937), from whose account these details are taken, found 

 that the breeding season is early. Young are found newly born 

 late in February, and the number to the litter may average four 

 or five but in one case was as many as seven. It seems to have 

 few natural enemies. There is a close correlation between the 

 areas inhabited by the kit fox and the range of the large kanga- 

 roo rats Dipodomys deserti and D. spectabilis, on which with 

 other smaller rodents the fox largely feeds, although insects, 

 occasionally rabbits and snakes, and rarely poultry are also 

 items in its diet. 



Of the race mutica of the San Joaquin Valley, Calif., the 

 authors quoted say that of recent years large numbers have 

 been killed for fur. Thus, in 1919, one trapper caught 100 

 foxes in a single week on an area 20 miles long by 2 miles wide 

 on the west side of the valley. But "probably the greatest 

 number of kit foxes has been destroyed by poison campaigns 

 directed against coyotes . . . Hundreds of kit foxes were 



Long-eared kit fox (Vulpes macrotis macrotis) 



