PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE MAMMALS OF NEW YORK 341 



successfully than the Canada lynx, and consequently may be looked for 

 in many localities where the latter is no longer found. 



Principal records. De Kay: " They are still found in the more northern 

 and western counties in the wooded districts" ('42^.53). Merriam : 

 " The wildcat is for some reason an extremely rare animal in the Adiron- 

 dack^ " ('82, p. 41) Fisher: "It is probable that a few wildcats still 

 remain in the wilder parts of the region. The last one killed in the 

 neighborhood [of Sing Sing] as far as we know, was shot by a Mr Rey- 

 nolds at Katonah [Westchester co.] in March, 1880" ('96, p. 198-99). 

 Mearns: " On my last visit to the [Hudson] highlands in 1896 I saw no 

 signs of the wildcat, and I was told that none had been killed there for 

 several years past. During the first 25 years of my life the wildcat was 

 at least as numerous as the red fox and more frequently killed. In the 

 early seventies wildcats by their depredations caused so much loss to the 

 residents of Putnam co., across the Hudson from my home, that bounties 

 were privately subscribed by landowners amounting to $25 for every one 

 killed in that neighborhood. Mr Henry Le Farge still a hunter of local 

 renown killed a considerable number of them, but there were still some 

 wildcats remaining on Sugar Loaf mountain when 1 left the Highlands 

 in 1884 ('98a, p. 351). Several stuffed specimens of wildcats said to have 

 been killed in that neighborhood are preserved in the hotels and stores of 

 the Catskills. It is in fact fairly common in these mountains " ('98b, 



P- 359)- 



Urocyon cinereoargenteus (Schreber) Gray fox 



1775 Canis cinereoargenteus Schreber, Saugethiere. pi. 92. 



1785 Canis vulpes A pennsylvanicus Boddaert, Elenchus Animalium. 



1 : 97. Based on the Brant Fox of Pennant. 

 1842 Vulpes virginianus De Kay, Zoology of New York, Mammalia. 



P-45- 

 1894 Urocyon cinereoargenteus Rhoads, American naturalist. June 1894. 



28: 524. 

 1896 Urocyon virginianus Fisher, The Observer. May 1896. 7 : 199. 

 1898 Urocyon cinereoargenteus Mearns, ^Am. mus. nat. hist. Bui. 



9 Sep. 1898. 10 :35o. 

 1898 Urocyon cinereoargenteus Mearns, U. S. Nat. mus. Proc. 21:360. 



Type locality. North America. 



Faunal position. The gray fox is a strictly austral animal. 



Habitat. Woods, thickets, rocky hillsides and in fact all dry situations. 



Distribution in New York. The gray fox enters New York with the 

 upper austral fauna at the extreme west, in the Hudson valley and on 

 Long Island. 



