562 CARNIVORES. 
Dr. Ellzey, when contrasting the habits of the grey fox with the red American 
variety of the common species, observes that the two animals differ very widely 
in these respects. “So far as my personal observations inform me,” he says, 
“the following are some of the principal distinctions. First, as to reproduction, 
the red fox nearly always brings forth its young in an earth den, the grey fox 
generally in a hollow log or tree, or, at most, under a rock. The last one I found 
with her young was a grey. The young, only a few hours old, were in the hollow 
stump of an old rotten tree, broken off about five feet high. As I came up, the old 
one jumped out of the top of the stump, and ran off. I looked down the hole, and 
saw at the bottom five young ones, scarcely dry. I have seldom seen a grey with 
more than five, and often with only four young. I never found a red with less 
than five. I have seen one with nine, and several with seven. I think it certain, 
therefore, that the reds are more prolific. Second, as to hunting for prey and 
subsistence. The reds are bolder in pursuit, and hunt over a much greater territory 
than the greys. Whether the greys ever climb trees in pursuit of prey I am 
uncertain, but they take to a tree as readily as a cat when run hard by hounds. I 
think it nearly certain that they climb for persimmons and grapes. Red foxes 
never climb trees under any circumstances; when hard run they go to earth. 
Grey 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 parallel 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 the 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 grey fox in an hour’s run. The young of the grey fox closely 
resemble small blackish puppies; those of the red fox are distinctly vulpine in 
physiognomy when only a few hours old.” 
The smallest and prettiest of the North American species is the 
kit fox (C. velox), which derives its Latin name from its extraordinary 
fleetness. In this fox the length of the head and body is only 24 inches, and that 
of the tail, without the hair, 9 inches. The animal is characterised by the shortness 
and stoutness of its limbs, standing relatively lower than the common fox, and also 
by the bushy tail being less than half the length of the body. The thickly-furred 
ears are also relatively shorter than in the common fox. Another distinctive 
character is the length and abundance of the under-fur, which is often visible 
externally, and also by the long hairs clothing the soles of the feet. In colour the 
kit fox is somewhat variable, but a specimen described and figured by Professor 
Mivart has the back and tail dark grey, mingled with black-and-white hairs, the 
tip of the tail black, the cheeks, shoulders, flanks, and the outer surfaces of the 
limbs rufous, and the under-parts white. The kit fox is confined to North-Western 
America, where it inhabits open treeless districts, constructing its own burrows in 
the ground. It was formerly abundant on the plains of Columbia, and also in those 
lying between the Saskatchewan and the Missouri rivers, but it has of late years 
considerably decreased in numbers. 
Kit Fox. 
