THE AMERICAN RED FOX. 



{Vulpes fulvus.) 



Probably more has been written re- 

 garding the Red Fox of both Europe 

 and America than about any other mam- 

 malian animal. Its habits, its intelli- 

 gence, its beauty and its graceful motions, 

 all have appealed to the poet and the 

 writer of prose. It is the hero of many 

 stories and myths, and it is the symbol 

 of slyness, cunning, mischief and deceit. 

 It is the Reynard of the writer and 

 sportsman. In proverbs and in tradi- 

 tions its attributes are praised and ex- 

 alted. Pliny says : "In Thrace, when 

 all parts are covered with ice, the Foxes 

 are consulted, an animal which, in other 

 respects, is baneful from its craftiness. 

 It has been observed that this animal 

 applies its ear to the ice for the purpose 

 of testing its thickness ; hence it is that 

 the inhabitants will never cross frozen 

 rivers and lakes until Foxes have passed 

 over them and returned." Probably the 

 greatest of the poems in which the Fox 

 is the hero was written by Goethe, who 

 considered this crafty animal an appro- 

 priate subject for an epic. Not all writ- 

 ers, however, give the Fox such an 

 exalted position. Pechuel-Loesche writes : 

 "Master Reynard of tradition and the 

 Common Fox of the forest may not very 

 well be regarded as the same animal, for 

 the latter is by no means remarkably 

 clever." 



The Red Foxes of both America and 

 Europe are very closely related, and by 

 many naturalists they are looked upon as 

 belonging to the same species, Vulpes 

 vulgaris. Their habits are similar and 

 the American form is fully as daring and 

 crafty as its relative in Europe. The 

 slight differences between the two forms 

 are quite possibly due to the character of 

 their environments. The American form 

 is said not to possess the wind of the 

 European and becomes exhausted much 

 earlier in the chase. If this is true, how- 

 ever, the American Red Fox is cunning 

 enough to find plenty of time to rest and 

 thus prolong the chase indefinitely. 

 While the American form is usually clas- 

 sified as a distinct species, Vulpes fulvus, 



there is strong evidence which would in- 

 dicate that the American Red Fox oi 

 today may have descended from individ- 

 uals of the European form which were 

 introduced, in some manner, into Amer- 

 ica long ago. "No remains of the 

 Red Fox have been found in the cave 

 deposits of America, while those of the 

 gray fox are abundant." The European 

 species was evidently an ancient inhabit- 

 ant, for fossilized remains are quite fre- 

 quently found in caverns, associated with 

 those of other animals. 



The habits of the American Red Fox 

 are so well known both by observation 

 and by numerous magazine articles, as 

 well as by the descriptive texts of books 

 on nature subjects, it seems unnecessary 

 to enlarge upon them. Yet the words 

 of Witmer Stone will not seem superflu- 

 ous: "The reputation for shrewdness 

 and cunning which the Fox has always 

 borne is well earned and indisputable. 

 One of the most characteristic traits of 

 the whole Fox tribe is the quickness with 

 which they gather experience and learn 

 to avoid new dangers. The early settlers 

 found little difficulty in trapping and 

 shooting the Foxes which skulked about 

 their clearings, and even now those found 

 in wild, unsettled country are compara- 

 tively easy to outwit. But the Red Fox 

 of cultivated districts has learned a great 

 deal from watching the ways of men, and 

 has already very nearly caught up with 

 Reynard of the Old World in the matter 

 of highly developed intellect." 



The Fox is disliked by the sportsman 

 because it destroys the partridges and 

 other game of his hunting range, and by 

 the farmer because it preys upon his 

 poultry yard and his lambs. Yet the Fox 

 is of considerable service to mankind, for 

 it destroys many woodchucks and innu- 

 merable field mice and other noxious 

 rodents. ' As the Fox is a burrowing 

 animal, it will "dig out" a woodchuck if 

 the opening to its burrow is not among 

 roots. When other food is scarce, the 

 Fox will eat frogs, worms, various in- 

 sects, fish, crustaceans, mollusks and 

 fruits. 



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