FOXES. 557 



omnivorous in its food, is easily killed by means of strychnine. The fish which 

 forms its favourite diet in winter is a kind of carp ; while in summer the chief food 

 consists of mice, which are pursued either in small companies or family parties. 

 Fruit also forms a portion of its diet. It does little or no damage to poultry ; and 

 in Japan has been known to make its winter lair beneath the walls of a house. 

 Both its fur and its flesh are held in high estimation by the Japanese. 



THE FOXES (Canis vulpes, etc.). 



One of the characteristics by which the skulls of the wolves and the other 

 members of the dog family described above may be distinguished from those of 

 the foxes has been mentioned on p. 496. To this it may be added that the frontal 

 bones of the skulls of the former group are inflated by internal air-chambers, which 

 are wanting in those of the latter. Moreover, the pupil of the eye, when contracted, 

 is circular in the wolves, jackals, and domestic dogs, whereas in the foxes it is 

 elliptical. Some of the fox-like South American species of the former resemble, 

 however, foxes in this respect, as they do in external form to a more or less 

 marked degree. On account of these intermediate forms, we cannot agree with 

 those who refer the foxes to a distinct genus, although they differ from all other 

 members of the family in having but six teats. Foxes are characterised by their 

 slight build, their long bushy tails, which are nearly always considerably more 

 than half the length of the head and body, and short limbs ; while they generally 

 have large ears. All the members of the group are chiefly nocturnal in their 

 habits, hiding in holes or burrows made by themselves, or in ravines, or amongst 

 grass or bushes during the day. They are, as a rule, solitary, and rarely if ever 

 associate in numbers as other Canidce do. All the species are more or less 

 insectivorous and 

 frugivorous; but the 

 more tropical forms 

 appear to live on 

 insects more than 

 do those which in- 

 habit temperate 

 climates. All are 

 highly intelligent 

 and famous for cun- 

 ning. The group 

 is distributed over 

 North America, Asia, SKELETON OF FOX. 



Europe, and Africa, 



but is unknown in South America. The smaller African species are distinguished 

 by the inordinate length of their ears. 



Probably every Englishman thinks he knows the common fox 

 Common Fox. 



sufficiently well to run no risk of confounding it with any other 



animal ; and if our observations were confined to the ordinary foxes of Europe we 

 should have no great difficulty in deciding that they might be included under one 



