THE FLESH-EATING PREDATORY MAMMALS 121 



and more given to burrowing and inhabiting burrows than wolves 

 or dogs, but they are in comparison solitary in their habits, and 

 do not associate so much in packs. In this respect the Arctic 

 fox above alluded to is perhaps a little more dog-like, as it 

 generally dwells in small colonies of from twenty to thirty 

 burrows each. 



The colour of the common fox varies slightly in different 

 districts of Great Britain and abroad, being somewhat grayer in 

 Scotland than in England. The following, however, is a fairly 

 accurate description of the coloration of the English fox in winter 

 and summer alike. The lower portion of the cheeks and the 

 under part of the throat, neck, and chest, and the upper and lower 

 lips, are white. The belly is dirty white, with a tendency to 

 become brown in some examples, or actually grayish-black in 

 others. The inside of the thighs and of the arms from the 

 elbows to below the wrists is white, and there is a marked white 

 line extending down the outer aspect of the hind legs from the 

 knee to near the inside of the hock. The long hair inside the 

 ears is yellowish-white. The front part of the upper lip and 

 the muzzle round the nose is blackish-brown, and a blackish line 

 separates the white of the upper lip from the red of the nose, and 

 is then continued in a narrow but distinct line to the inner angle 

 of the eye. The centre of the nose is also inclined to be blackish- 

 brown. The outer side of the large ears is black or blackish- 

 brown, the black being very evident along the inner edge. The 

 feet are black, with sometimes a patch of white on the inside of 

 the fore paws, the inner side of the feet being brownish, while 

 the black of the outer aspect is often continued up the edge of the 

 arm to the elbow. The long vibrissas are black, and the long 

 hairs along the back and sides of the tail are often tipped with 

 black. The hairs of the soles of the feet (unlike those of the 

 dog and the wolf, the soles are hairy and not naked) is deep red. 

 The whole remainder of the coloration not as yet described varies 

 from a beautiful orange-red to an almost silvery pinkish-gray. 

 The forehead, the region round the eyes, and the upper part of 

 the nose, the shoulders, and arms are particularly bright orange- 



