566 



CARNIVORES. 



under-parts being then nearly white. This species is found throughout most of 

 the sandy and more or less desert regions on the western side of India, and also 

 extends into Baluchistan, Afghanistan, probably Persia, Arabia, and most likely 

 other districts of South- Western Asia. It is essentially a desert-hunting species, 

 and in India appears to live chiefly on the gerbils so common in the same sandy 

 regions. 



In the deserts of Central Asia the preceding species is replaced 



by the corsac fox (C. corsac), distinguished by its general paler 



colour, white under-parts, and the black tip to the tail, the shoulder-spots and 



stripe of the desert-fox being also wanting. The two are, however, evidently very 



closely allied, and Professor Mivart suggests that they may prove to be local 



THE CORSAC FOX (* nat. size). 



varieties of one species. The range of the corsac extends from the banks of the 

 Volga and the shores of the Caspian Sea to the south-eastern parts of Siberia; 

 while eastwards it is doubtless continued into China, although its limits in this 

 direction, as well as to the northward, are unknown. It has been obtained from 

 Amurland. Like the desert-fox, the corsac is entirely restricted to open and more 

 or less desert regions. It preys largely on small rodents, such as voles, picas, and 

 the like, and is chiefly nocturnal. It does not appear that it makes a burrow for 

 itself, generally tenanting the deserted hole of a marmot, which it leaves after a 

 time for that of another. The corsac is soon run down by dogs, and when tracked 

 to its lair through the snow in winter is said to remain below, and rather than 

 bolt perish from hunger. 



The little -known Tibetan fox (C. ferrilatus), from the neighbourhood of 

 Lhasa, is another nearly-allied small species, distinguished by the relatively shorter 

 ears being pale rufous instead of dark-coloured ; the tip of the tail being white. 



