FOXES AND WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THEM 



677 



HUNTING THE RED FOX ON SKI IN NORWAY 



Figure 5. This Norse boy has shot a Red Fox in the hills of his 

 country, and is proudly exhibiting it. The photograph was made by 

 the late Professor Robert Collett, of Christiania, curator of the Museum 

 of Natural History in that city, and presented to the writer. The 

 species very closely resembles our American Red Fox. 



ficult animal to trap, especially in the case at foxes in 

 the northeastern sections of the country, where they 

 are becoming so knowing that they may steal the traps 

 set for them some day, and use them on their- own. 

 account to catch woodchucks with thus gaining valuable 

 time for play and for serious thought upon the subject 

 of outwitting dogs and men. If by chance he is caught 

 by the leg in a steel trap, a fox will free himself by 

 biting off the leg quite as readily as a coon or a 

 muskrat does it. 



Red foxes have a very strong 

 odor that appears to be especial- 

 ly offensive to dogs ; this is not 

 so much the case with the gray 

 fox, the latter being a tidier ani- 

 mal in some respects. The bark 

 of the gray fox can readily be 

 distinguished from that of the 

 red one, being more husky, faint- 

 er, and thinner, and it is heard 

 principally in the spring during 

 the mating season. The red fox 

 will, when occasion calls for it, 

 give vent to a kind of high- 

 pitched screech, that when heard 

 at night, is quite awe-inspiring; 

 and this is its purpose, as it often 

 serves as a protection for its 

 young. 



Not very much has been writ- 

 ten upon the life history of the 

 Kit or Swift fox, the energies 

 of most modern mammalogists 

 apparently having been directed 



along other lines. Dr. John Strong Newberry says of 

 this fox: "We had no opportunity of observing the ani- 

 mals in confinement, nor of testing by actual experiment 

 the truth of the report which gives to this small, short- 

 limbed fox such fabulous speed. All those who were 

 familiar with them, however, agreed in saying that "its 

 swiftness has been greatly overrated; that it is even less 

 swift than its congeners, the red and gray foxes; all of 

 which the appearance and structure of the animal fully 

 confirms." 



The writer has seen the Kit fox a number of times in 

 zoological gardens, but only a few times on the plains. 

 That this species possesses remarkable powers of speed, 

 when it has the opportunity to exert them on compara- 

 tively level country, there can be no question. 



The Arctic fox is found in the boreal region of not 

 only North America but of Europe and Asia as well ; it 

 is rarely found below the 50th parallel of latitude. This 

 species was described by Linnaeus as long ago as 1766, 

 and possibly a few subspecific forms yet remain to be 

 described by science. Professor Gibson says of it that 

 "it is somewhat smaller than the European fox, its ears 

 being less pointed and the muzzle shorter. The soles 

 of its feet are densely furred, resembling those of a 

 hare, hence its specific name, lagopus. As with many 

 Arctic animals, the color of its fur changes with the season, 

 being in most cases of a pure white color in winter, with 

 the exception of a few black hairs at the extremity of the 

 tail. Toward the end of April, when the Arctic snows 

 begin, to disappear, the long white fur gives place to 

 shorter hair of a dark brown or sooty color. Occasionally 

 a. dark-colored fox may be seen in winter and a white 

 one in summer,, and in Iceland, according to Professor 

 Newton, the winter coat. differs very slightly from that 



THE KIT OR SWIFT FOX 



Figure 6. One of our smaller vulpine species, so named for its extreme swiftness when running. This is 

 one of the most beautiful of all American foxes,, and by no means an easy one to capture. 



