122 BRITISH MAMMALS 



red, and this tint also prevails on the outer aspect of the thigh 

 and leg. The long fur on the flanks and hind quarters is a 

 silvery reddish-brown, because many of the hairs are whitish 

 towards their extremities. The greater part of the tail is brown 

 or yellowish-brown, mingled, as above stated, with black or white- 

 tipped hairs, the black hairs being very numerous along the sides 

 of the tail. The general aspect of a fox, then, is red-brown above 

 and outwardly, and white below and inwardly, with black ears, a 

 blackish muzzle, and a black-fringed, white-tipped tail. The 

 short nails on the feet are horn-colour. In coloration the fox is 

 almost the handsomest of our British beasts. In Scottish types 

 there is more gray, especially about the hair on the upper parts, 

 and a greater proportion of white hairs on the hind quarters, 

 while the white tip at the end of the tail is larger. About the 

 Cheviots and the Scottish borderland the foxes are smaller, the 

 fur is a darker red, and the tip of the tail has little or no white. 

 In Wales, according to Mr. W. E. de Winton, a blackish-brown 

 type of fox is sometimes met with, but in South Wales the 

 present writer has noticed the particularly orange colour of the 

 fox's fur. The occasional specimens with blackish-gray bellies 

 that are met with in England recall the variety of the common 

 fox which is more characteristic of Southern Europe and Northern 

 India. There is a great tendency in foxes to abrupt alternations 

 between a blackish and a white belly,^ and this tendency to 

 alteration in tint may have made itself felt independently in 

 England. On the other hand, it is possible that the dark-bellied 

 examples met with in this country may be due to the importation 

 of foreign foxes, which have so often been brought over to re- 

 inforce the native breed ever since the fox became a fashionable 

 contributor to sport. Female foxes do not differ in colour from 

 the male, though they are smaller in size. Fox cubs, however, 

 are decidedly diff^erent from their parents in coloration. There is 

 scarcely any black or white about them, and the general colour 

 is a brownish or pinkish-gray, not unlike the colour of the coat 



1 The white tip to the tail, so characteristic of Canis vulpes in all its 

 varieties, may also appear as dark gray or even black in English specimens. 



