THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
adaptability and fearlessness of the red; but it is due in part to 
the gray’s less strength and fecundity, its young rarely exceed- 
ing four or five annually, whereas the litter of the red often 
numbers seven or eight. Otherwise the gray fox seems to 
have several advantages. It is decidedly smaller and less con- 
spicuous, being silver-gray, darker on the back, and tinged with 
Copyright, N.Y. Zblogical Society. Sanborn, Phot. 
A GROUP OF GRAY FOXES. 
rufous on the ears, sides of the neck, breast, and under parts, 
while the tips of the ears, top of the nose, chin, and feet are 
black. It is a woodlander, and seems incapable of adapting 
itself to the cleared districts in which the red fox so easily 
makes itself at home; climbs trees almost like a cat, and takes to 
them naturally for safety or to get grapes and persimmons to eat. 
There, too, it makes its home in a hollow stump or log, not digging 
a burrow, for the weather of its southerly habitat, and the later 
date of its breeding, do not require for its young the warmth of 
an underground nursery; and all the year round it can supply 
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