FOX-HUNTING IN VIRCxINIA. f)2o 



and berries. Red Foxes never climb trees under any cir- 

 cumstances; when hard-run, they go to earth. 



Gray Foxes run before hounds only a short distance, 

 doubling constantly, and for a short time, when they either 

 hole in a tree or climb one. I have known the Red Fox to 

 run straight away nearly twenty miles. Very commonly, 

 they run eight or ten miles away, and then run back in a par- 

 allel course. I have known them to run the four sides of a 

 quadrilateral, nine or ten miles long by about two miles 

 broad. It is doubtful whether a first-rate specimen of a 

 Red Fox, taken at his best in point of condition, can either 

 be killed or run to earth by any pack of hounds living, 

 such are his matchless speed and endurance. It is but a 

 sorry pack which fails to kill or tree a Gray Fox in an 

 hour's run. 



The young of the Gray Fox closely resemble small, 

 blackish puppies; those of the Red Fox are distinctly vul- 

 pine in physiognomy when only a few hours old. 



The above are striking varietal distinctions; character- 

 istics of less significance are often given much higher 

 value by capable naturalists. Yet, from such information 

 as I possess, I am of opinion that all living, and most likely 

 all extinct Canklce, constitute a single physiological group, 

 mutually fertile, and their cross-bred offspring fertile inter 

 se. This group is at present broken up into many good 

 and distinct morphological species. I think the above facts 

 clearly show that the Red Fox differs from the Gray in 

 many important particulars, and that they are in error who 

 seem to regard the two as mere color varieties — the dis- 

 tinctive marks being graded away and disappearing when 

 large series of individuals are compared. Any Fox-hunter, 

 not a greenhorn, can tell whether it be a Red or a Gray 

 Fox in front of his i)ack on the darkest night, as readily 

 as if the animal were in plain view; and yet the color varia- 

 tion of red and gray may bring the two sorts nearly 

 together in extreme specimens in a series. I think that, in 

 this manner, a comparison of series of kins may lead the 

 best naturalist to erroneous conclusions. In this case, 



