26 BULLETIN 301, .U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



fur greatly improved. Within 16 years from the time the two pioneer 

 fox-breeders built their ranch, they were sending to market the finest 

 fox pelts in the world. 



The tendency of wild silvers to produce red progeny is accounted 

 for by the fact that owing to their scarcity probably only one in a 

 hundred can have a silver mate; perhaps three in a hundred may 

 mate with cross foxes, which are merely hybrids, or descendants from 

 hybrids, between silvers and reds; and the remaining ninety-six must 

 mate with reds. In any event, although some of the cubs may be 

 silver, all of them will inherit from their red ancestors a tendency to 

 throw red. As has already been pointed out, however, this tendency 

 very soon disappears under the influence of careful breeding. Gen- 

 erally speaking, pure strains of silver foxes breed true. So also do 

 pure strains of red. When a red and silver are mated together, the 

 color of the progeny can not be foretold. The cubs may be red with 

 black throats, or they may be crosses, or a mixture of the two. One 

 or more may be silver, but this is unusual. Random breeding from 

 silvers and crosses of unknown pedigree is equally uncertain, as is 

 shown by the following results: 



A silver mated with a red produced two crosses, which when mated 

 together produced one red and four silvers. A silver and a cross 

 produced three silvers and two reds. A cross and a red produced 

 two crosses and two reds. A cross and a cross produced two silvers, 

 two crosses, and one red. Another pair of crosses produced nine 

 crosses. A red of silver-cross parentage mated with a red of silver 

 parentage produced one silver and two crosses. A silver and a red 

 produced in two successive years thirteen silvers. A pair of reds 

 from the same litter as two silvers produced three silvers, one cross, 

 and two reds. A pair of silvers produced one silver and five reds, 

 two of which, when mated together, produced three silvers and one 

 red the first year and two silvers the next year. Another pair of 

 silvers produced four crosses; while a silver and a cross produced a 

 litter of all silvers. 



These results indicate the uncertainty of breeding at random, but 

 they show also that if a fox of any color whatever has in his veins 

 silver blood, the silver can be made to appear in succeeding genera- 

 tions by selective breeding. This fact is most important. Suppose 

 a breeder has a strain of silvers lacking in size, or fecundity, or in 

 some other desirable particular. He can introduce specimens having 

 the desired qualities without having to consider color. A red fox 

 can be used if one of better color is not available. In the" course of 

 three or four generations the silver can be fully reinstated. Among 

 the features to be considered besides color are size, fineness of fur, 

 fecundity, docility, and hardiness. Fecundity appears to be a 



