The Dog Family — Foxes. 157 



THE FOXES. 



There are four distinct species of North American 

 Foxes; the Western Kitt or Swift Fox (Canis-velox), the 

 Grey Fox (Oanis-virginianus), the Red Fox (Canis-fulvus) 

 and the Arctic Fox (Canis-lagopus). There are two vari- 

 eties of the Arctic Fox— the Blue Fox and the White or 

 Polar Fox. The Black, Silver and Cross Foxes are all 

 color varieties of the Canis-fulvus, naturalists claiming 

 that the only difference they show is in the fur. Other 

 writers say that, as these varieties are only found in the 

 Northern districts, they should be considered as a separate 

 species from the North American Eed Fox whose habitat 

 extends well into the Southern portion of the hemisphere, 

 but as they all interbreed, and pups of the various colors 

 are sometimes found in the same litter, the scientists are 

 justified in placing them all in the same species. Even the 

 Red Fox shows considerable difference in size, markings, 

 color, and the quality of the fur in different localities; 

 those from Nova Scotia, Labrador, the Hudson Bay 

 Country and other Northern sections being larger, and 

 having longer and richer colored fur than that on the rep- 

 resentatives of this variety found in the Northern and 

 Central portions of the United States ;' where they are most 

 abundant in the New England states, although they are 

 found also in New York and Pennsylvania and as far 

 south as West Virginia and Virginia. In the far Western 

 States and on the Pacific Coast the Grey Fox takes the 

 place of the Red Fox. 



Silver and Black Poxes are occasionally met with in all 

 parts of Canada and in the most northern of the United 

 States, but they are not found in any considerable numbers 

 south of Newfoundland, Labrador and the northern por- 

 tions of the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. These varie- 

 ties are also quite plentiful in the interior of Alaska, and 

 the Yukon province of Canada where their range is lost 

 in that of the. Arctic Fox. The Arctic Fox is a bluish 

 mauve color all the year around, in the lower latitudes of 

 its habitat, but according to some authorities, in the far 

 north it becomes white in winter, when it is known as the 

 White or Polar Fox ; others claim that the White and the 



