IN THE FAR WEST. 363 



pleasing aspect. Its skin is valued at five dollars in the mar- 

 ket. The black fox and the silver fox are highly prized for 

 their fur, the peltries being worth from twenty-five to fifty 

 dollars. 



The Kitt, or swift fox (V. velox], which is not found west 

 of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges, is smaller than the 

 red or gray; its limbs are short and robust; and its inner fur 

 is full and close. Its pads are covered with hair to such an 

 extent that they are concealed from view. Its head is shorter 

 and broader than its specific red congener ; and its ears are 

 also smaller. It has a length of two feet or more, and its tail 

 is from nine to eleven inches long. It does not, it seems to 

 me, deserve the nnme it bears for speed ; for it cannot, so far as 

 I can judge, excel its larger kindred in pace and endurance, 

 and a good fox-hound can run it down, with a fair start, as 

 easily as it can its European congener. 



It is very prolific, and brings forth from four to eight 

 young in its burrow, about the latter end of March. 



The arctic or stone fox (V. lagopus} is very common in 

 Alaska and the northern parts of British America. It is con- 

 sidered to be the most valuable member of its family when 

 attired in its winter coating of white, its skin being valued all 

 the way from fifty to two hundred dollars, and sometimes 

 more. 



The most common colours of this specimen in summer are 

 blue, gray, and white, the former predominating. This 

 handsome creature is one of the most prolific of its family, its 

 litter often numbering from ten to fourteen youngsters. 



It has been introduced on several of the large islands on the 

 Alaska Coast by the Russian American Fur Company, and 

 they take excellent care that it is not destroyed without their 

 consent. 



Its striking and strange hue seems to be a slate colour 

 tinged with darkish purple, and this is one reason why its fur 

 is so highly prized; but, besides that, is the fact that it is also 

 very fine, soft, and dense, and therefore makes excellent lining 

 for cloaks or beautiful carriage robes. 



In its island home this creature lives on sea-birds and their 



