AMERICAN CROSS FOX. 51 



scarce in Rensselaer count}', and we had three different specimens 

 brought to us to examine. 



These, the people called Black Foxes. They were obtained by cutting 

 dowTi hollow trees, in which they were concealed, and to which their 

 tracks on the snow directed the hunters. 



We cannot now find any note, in regard to the nimiber of Cross Foxes 

 taken, as compared to the Red, Gray, and Black Foxes ; about one-fourth 

 of the whole number captured, however, were Gray Foxes, and we recol- 

 lect but a single one that was perfectly black with the exception of a white 

 tip at the end of its tail, like the specimen figured in Dr. Godman's work. 

 On examining several packages of Fox skins at Montreal, we saw 

 about four specimens only of the Cross Fox, and three of the Black Fox, 

 in some three hundred skins. We Avere informed during our recent visit 

 to the Upper Missouri country, that from fifty to one hundred skins of the 

 Cross Fox were annually procured by the American Fur Company, from 

 the hunters and Indians. 



The specimen from which our drawing was made, was caught in a 

 steel-trap, by one of its fore-feet, not far from the falls of Niagara, and 

 was purchased by J. W. Audubon of the proprietor of the " Museum " 

 kept there to gratify the curiosity of the travellers who visit the great 

 Cataract. 



In describing the habits of the Red Fox, (F. Fuluus,) which we trust 

 to be able to do hereafter, we conceive that we shall have a further and 

 better opportunity of giving the characteristics of the species of which 

 this is a variety. 



Dr. Richardson (Fauna Boreali Americana, p. 93) adheres to the 

 opinion of the Indians, who regard the Cross Fox of the fur traders as a 

 mere variety of the Red Fox. He says, " I found on inquiry that the gra- 

 dations of colour between characteristic specimens of the Cross and Red 

 Fox, are so small that the hunters are often in doubt with respect to the 

 proper denomination of a skin ; and I was frequentlj- told, " This is not a 

 Cross Fox yet, but it is becoming so." It is worthy of remark, moreover, 

 that the European Fox {Vulpes vulgaris) is subject to similar varieties, 

 and that the " Cams crucigera of Gesner, differs from the latter animal in 

 the same way that the American Cross Fox does from the red one." 

 We have had several opportunities of examining C. crucigera in the mu 

 seums of Europe, and regard it as a variety of the common European 

 Fox, but it diflfers in many particulars from any variety of the American 

 Red Fox that we have hitherto examined. 



The Cross Fox is generally regarded as being more wary and swift 

 of foot, than the Red Fox ; with regard to its greater swiftness, we doubt 



