558 CARNIVORES. 



name, although even among these there is a considerable amount of variation in 

 size and colour. When we take into consideration the larger foxes of North 

 America and India, we find a number of forms which, while approximating more 

 or less to the British animal, yet differ so remarkably in coloration that it is at first 

 sight hard to believe that they all belong to the same species ; but the researches of 

 zoologists have shown that all these various modifications pass more or less 

 completelj- into the coloration of the typical European fox, and must be regarded 

 as mere local varieties of that widely-spread species. 



Including, then, all these varieties under one title, the common fox has a more 

 extensive distribution than any other member of the entire family : its range 

 embracing the whole of Europe and Asia, north of and including the Himalaya, 

 from Iceland to Japan : and also comprising North America from Hudson's Baj- 

 and Labrador to the latitude of Northern Mexico, and Afi-ica north of the Sahara 

 and Sudan. The size of the fox, according to Mivart, is subject to such an amount 

 of variation — that if the length of the head and body of a specimen at one end of 

 the series be represented by 100, that of the one at the other will be equivalent to 

 170. The length of the tail and ears is, however, much less variable. 



The ordinary English fox, as represented in our coloured Plate, is of a reddish 

 brown colour alx)ve, and white beneath, while the outer surfaces of the ears, and 

 portions of those of the limbs are black, and the extreme tip of the tail is white. 

 Occasionally, however, the tip of the tail ma\' be dark gi"ey, or even black, while 

 in one specimen caught in Warwickshire, the whole of the under-pai-ts were 

 greyish black. The total length of the head and body may varj' from 27 to 46 

 inches, and that of the tail from 12 to 15 inches. 



In Southern Europe, black-bellied foxes are far from uncommon, and connect 

 the ordinary form with the Himalaj"an variety, which has a somewhat similar 

 coloration, and is altogether a paler animal than the English fox. In its long 

 winter dress, the Himalaj^an fox (which is generally smaller than the English), 

 is a strikingly handsome animal, with the fur of the back varjnng from chestnut 

 to dull rufous, more or less speckled with yellow, to a dark iron grej'. Frequently 

 there is a dark stripe across the shoulder, bordered with buft" patches in front and 

 behind ; while the hinder parts of the back and thighs are grej-er and more 

 speckled with white, the sides paler, and the under-parts varying from cream- 

 colour to nearly black. The throat and chest, with the exception of a white spot 

 in the centre of the latter, are frequently darker than the under-parts of the body, 

 in which the dusky area may be confined to a streak along the middle. Like the 

 English fox, the outer sides of the eai-s are black, and the tip of the tail is wliite ; 

 but the limbs have little or no black, and the general colour of the tail is grej-ish, 

 with a more or less marked mfous tinge. The face is rufous, with a black spot 

 below the eyes ; while the cheeks are whitish. Very different is, however, the 

 appearance of the animal in .summer, after the loss of its long winter coat, when 

 the dark under-fur communicates a greyish bi'own tinge to the back, while the 

 sides are paler and the under-parts nearly white. This varietj' is found in the 

 Western Himalaya, from Nipal and Kashmir to Gilgit. In the higher Himalaya, 

 Tibet, and probably Afghanistan, it is, however, replaced by another and larger 

 variety which extends over the greater part of Central Asia. This large Central 



