208 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
tricks to catch snow-birds and grouse, espe- 
cially in the far North. 
It is quite harmless to man, and would prob- 
ably increase rather than diminish as ranching 
and civilization gradually overspread its once 
lonely haunts, did it not so often fall a victim 
to the poisoned baits laid out for coyotes. 
This is unfortunate, especially in prairie-dog 
regions, for it is an indefatigable and skillful 
hunter of these troublesome burrowers. 
The gray fox. Throughout the Southern 
States occurs a rather small fox differing in 
color,—for it is prevailingly gray—and also in 
habits, from the northern red foxes. This 
gray fox seems to have less sharpness, adapta- 
bility and fearlessness than the red; and it is 
also less fecund, its young rarely exceeding 
four or five annually, whereas the litter of the 
red often numbers seven or eight. Otherwise 
the gray fox seems to have several advantages, 
as I have pointed out in my Life of Mammals: 
“It is decidedly smaller and less conspicuous, being 
silver-gray, darker on the back, and tinged with 
rufous on the ears, sides of the neck, breast, and un- 
der parts, while the tips of the ears, top of the nose, 
