NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 91 



Neither of these delicate little species seems to thrive in our 

 large Fox Dens, which seem to be too large for them; but 

 in this building they thrive and are quite content with life. 

 The Swift Fox is the four-footed elf of the plains, and it 

 is unfortunate that the poison laid for the fierce and cruel 

 stock-killing wolves should prove its extermination— as it 

 surely will, ere long. 



The Arctic Fox, {Vulpcs lagopus).— This creature of the 

 polar world is a striking example of climatic influence on a 

 species, and also of the danger that lies in describing a spe- 

 cies from a single specimen. In the far north, the Arctic 

 Fox is snow-white all the year round. Farther south it is 

 white in winter, but in summer is bluish-brown. In the 

 southern part of its range, the Aleutian Archipelago for 

 example, except for an occasional white individual, it is dark 

 all the year round, and is known only as the Blue Fox. At 

 first it may seem difficult to believe that these two widely- 

 different extremes are only color-phases of the same species ; 

 but it is quite true. The dark-colored animal is not even 

 accorded subspecific rank. 



On various islands along the Alaska coast, especially in 

 the Aleutian Archipelago, about forty commercial companies 

 are engaged in breeding Blue Foxes for their fur, some of 

 them with satisfactory success. The foxes are fed daily, 

 on cooked corn meal and dried fish. They come up to be 

 fed, and wdien the time comes to handle and sort them 

 previous to killing the annual allotment, they greatly facil- 

 itate matters by the readiness wnth which they enter box 

 traps. 



The great decrease in the annual supply of good fur has 

 caused many persons to hope that fox-breeding may be 

 developed into a remunerative industry. Except in Alaska, 

 no extensive experiments in that line have been made. It 

 is quite desirable that fox-breeding in the United States 

 should be taken up under state or national auspices, and 

 worked out to a successful issue. There is good reason to 

 hope and believe that it might be developed into an im- 

 portant industry. 



From Argentina, South America, have come two fine 

 specimens of the Azara Dog, (Canis azarae), which, but for 

 their half dog-like tails might pass anywhere as rather odd- 

 looking gray foxes. But they are a visible reminder of the 

 fact that the pampas of South America contain an extensive 

 series of foxes and wild dogs, which thus far is practically 

 unknown everywhere north of the Amazon. We have now 



