THE KIT FOX. 



C. C. M. 



ONE of the smallest of the foxes 

 is the kit fox {Vtilpes velox), 

 sometimes called the swift fox 

 and also the burrowing fox, get- 

 ting the latter name for the ability and 

 rapidity with which it digs the holes in 

 the ground in which it lives. It is an 

 inhabitant of the northwestern states 

 and of the western Canadian provinces, 

 covering the region from southeastern 

 Nebraska northwest to British Colum- 

 bia. Its length is about twenty inches, 

 exclusive of the tail, which is about 

 twelve inches long. The overhair is 

 fine, the back is a pure gray, the sides 

 yellow, and the under parts white. The 

 ears are small and covered with hair 

 and the soles are also hairy. The kit 

 fox is much smaller in size than either 

 the gray or red fox, but has propor- 

 tionately longer limbs than either of 

 them. 



Reynard, of all animals, in spite of 

 the fact that he is accepted as the em- 

 blem of cunning, slyness, deceit, and 

 mischief, is prasied by proverb and 

 tradition, and the greatest of German 

 poets, Goethe, made him the subject of 

 an epic. Pechuel-Loesche says: 



"The fox of tradition and poetry and 

 the fox in real life are really two very 

 different animals. Whoever observes 

 him with an unprejudiced mind fails to 

 discover any extraordinary degree of 

 that much-praised presence of mind, 

 cleverness, cunning, and practical sense, 

 or even an unusually keen development 

 of the senses. In my opinion he is by 

 no means superior in his endow- 

 ments to other beasts of prey, espe- 

 cially the wolf. The most that can be 

 truly said in his praise is to admit that, 

 when he is pursued, he knows how to 

 adapt himself to the surrounding cir- 

 cumstances, but scarcely more so 

 than other sagacious animals. Like 

 many other animals, including the 

 harmless species, some old foxes may 

 have their wits unusually sharpened by 

 experience, but every huntsman who 

 has had much to do with foxes will ad- 



mit that there are a great many which 

 are not ingenious, and some which may 

 even be called stupid, and this refers 

 not only to young, inexperienced foxes, 

 but also to many old ones. The fox is 

 a rascal and knows his trade, because 

 he has to make a living somehow. He is 

 impudent, but only when driven by 

 hunger or when he has to provide for 

 his little family; and in bad plights he 

 shows neither presence of mind nor 

 deliberation, but loses his head com- 

 pletely. He is caught in clumsy traps, 

 and this even repeatedly. In the open 

 country he allows a sled to approach 

 him within gunshot; he permits him- 

 self to be surrounded in a hunt in 

 spite of the noise and shots, instead of 

 wisely taking to his heels; in short, this 

 animal, which is more relentlessly pur- 

 sued than any other inhabitant of the 

 woods, still has not learned to see 

 through all the tricks of men and shape 

 his actions accordingly," 



All of which may be literally true, 

 nevertheless Reynard is the hero of a 

 hundred stories and pictures and he 

 will continue to be regarded as a remark- 

 ably clever and interesting animal. 



The coat of the fox corresponds 

 closely to his surroundings. Those 

 species living on plains and deserts 

 show the similarity of their color with 

 that of the ground; the southern fox 

 differs considerably from the northern 

 and the fox of the mountains from that 

 of the plains. 



The fox usually selects his home in 

 deep hollows, between rocks covered 

 with branches, or between roots of 

 trees. Whenever he can avoid doing 

 so he does not dig a burrow himself, 

 but establishes himself in some old, de- 

 serted badger's hole, or shares it with 

 the badger in spite of the latter's objec- 

 tions. If it is possible, the fox exca- 

 vates his burrows in mountain walls, so 

 that the conduits lead upwards, without 

 running close to the surface. In his 

 prowlings he regards his security as 

 paramount to every other considera- 



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