172 GRAY FOX. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The Gray Fox is scarce in New England, and we have not heard of it 

 to the north of the State of Maine ; in Canada we have heard of its occa- 

 sional, but rare appearance. In the vicinity of Albanj', N. Y., it is not 

 an uncommon species ; south of this, through Pennsylvania and New 

 Jersey, it is about as abundant as the red fox. In the Southern States, 

 except in the mountains of Virginia, it is the only species, and is 

 abundant. It exists plentifully in Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana ; 

 it is found on the prairies of the West, and we have received a specimen 

 from California, scarcely differing in any of its markings from those of 

 Carolina. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



This species was noticed by Lawson, Catesbt, and Pennant. Schrebee, 

 in 1775, gave it a specific, name ; he was followed two years afterwards 

 by Erxleben, and in 1788 by Gmelin. In the meantime Erxleben, Schre- 

 BER, and Gmelin published a variety of the Gray Fox, which was a little 

 more cinereous in colour, as a new^ species, under the name of Canis cine- 

 reo-argenteus. Richardson was correct in having applied the specific 

 name of Virginianus to the Gray Fox, but he erred in referring the West- 

 ern kit-fox or swift-fox, (F. velox,) to C. cinereo-argentatus. To us, the 

 short description of these authors, of C. cinereo-argentatus, appears to ap- 

 ply more strictly to the Gray Fox than to their accounts of C. Virginianus ; 

 the latter, we know, is intended for the present species, as it is the only 

 fox in Virginia, with the exception of the red fox, which exists sparingly 

 in the mountains. The views of Desmarest in regard to our American 

 foxes are very confused, and the translation by Harlan partakes of all 

 the errors of the original. Richardson did not meet with this species in 

 the Northern regions he visited, and on the whole very little has been 

 said of its habits by any author. 



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