8o 



Fox-Hunting in New England. 



the tail darker than the body, most of its hairs being tipped with 

 black. The eyes are near together and strongly express, as does 

 the whole head, the alert and cunning nature of the animal. 



The cross fox, much scarcer than the red, is very beautiful. It is 

 thus described by Thompson: "A blackish stripe passing from the 

 neck down the back and another crossing it at right angles over the 



"AN HONEST FOX MUST LIVE." 



shoulders ; sides, ferruginous, running into gray on the back ; the 

 chin, legs, and under parts of the body, black, with a few hairs tipped 

 with white ; upper side of the tail, gray ; under side and parts of the 

 body adjacent, pale yellow ; tail tipped with white. The cross upon 

 the shoulders is not always apparent, even in specimens which, from 

 the fineness of the fur, are acknowledged to be cross foxes. Size, the 

 same as the common fox." 



The black or silver fox is so rare in New England that to see one 

 is the event of a life-time. The variety is as beautiful and valuable 

 as rare. Its color is sometimes entirely of a shining black, except 

 the white tip of the tail, but oftener of a silvery hue, owing to an 

 intermixture of hairs tipped with white. It has probably always 

 been uncommon here, for it is said to have been held in such estima- 

 tion by the Indians of this region, that a silver fox- skin was equal 

 in value to forty beaver-skins, and the gift of one was considered a 



