362 BRANCH CHORDATA 



or slate gray. That these are not different species is proved by the fact that 

 occasionally one or two "blue foxes" occur in the litter where all the rest 

 become white; for all the young are blue. The arctic fox is valued for its 

 fur. The blue variety, being less abundant, is worth twice that of the white. 

 Commercial companies are, therefore, making attempts to breed these foxes 

 on the islands of the Alaska coast. In the extreme north the arctic fox 

 stores its food in summer for the long, desolate winter. There are a number 

 of other species of foxes. 



The wolf -like dogs include the dogs, jackals, and wolves. Domestic dogs 

 of to-day comprise about two hundred breeds. They are owned by natives 

 of all countries except the South Sea Islands. They have been associated 

 with man for thousands of years, their remains having been found in Danish 

 kitchen-middens, in the Swiss lake-dwellings, and in the remains of the 

 Bronze Age in Europe generally. It is only since the invention of firearms 

 that hunting with dogs has become general, as stealth was necessary to the 

 successful hunter and the dog might frighten the game. It might have been 

 used in running down such animals as the deer, but it seems from obtainable 

 evidence that it was used for the protection of the camp, to watch while the 

 master slept, and to give the alarm if beast or man came near; or it served as 

 food in time of necessity. Authorities vary in their opinion as to what stock 

 gave rise to the domestic races. " The jackal, bunasu, and the Indian wolf 

 have been suggested as ancestors. It is probable there has been much 

 mixture and that different wild types have been selected by man in various 

 countries."' The intelligence of dogs and their ability to learn by training 

 are well known and utilized by breeders and dealers. 



There are many species of African and Oriental jackals. Some feed 

 chiefly on carrion, but also commit depredations upon the hen roosts and 

 farmyards; others live upon figs, and others chiefly upon fruits. Their cry 

 is a long howl, ending in a series of short yelps. Anderson says "they often 

 congregate near one's tent and make the night hideous with their howls." 



The wolf of the present time is distributed over most of Europe, northern 

 Asia, and North America, wherever a rough country affords it shelter. 



Hornaday says "there is no depth of meanness, treachery, or cruelty to 

 which they do not cheerfully descend. They are the only animals on earth 

 which make a regular practice of killing and eating their companions and 

 devouring their own dead. But in the face of foes capable of defense even 

 gray wolves are rank cowards, and, unless cornered in a den, will not stop 

 to fight for their own cubs." The five or more sooty brown whelps are bom 

 in a cave (which is often dug by the mother) early in May, but usually only 

 two or three survive. In winter wolves form a pack to assist each other in 

 attacking the prey. Travellers through infested regions have been boldly 

 pursued and killed by them. The prolonged deep-chested bass howl, which 

 "multiplies itself by its rapid echoing until one wolf sounds like a dozen," 

 is not broken into a bark like that of the coyote. The timber or gray wolf 

 {Canis occidenlalis) is very much like the European (C lupus) . It can adapt 

 itself to almost any situation, being at home in the timbered regions or on the 

 treeless prairies of the West, in the evergreen or on the treeless prairies of 

 the West, in the evergreen forests of British Columbia, and on the desolate 

 barren ground of arctic America. Its winter coat is long and shaggy, and 

 varies from the standard gray (black and white mixed) to black in Florida 

 and rufous in Texas, while in the North it varies from black to the predomi- 

 nating white color of arctic animals. 



1 Beddard, p. 423. 



