FUR-FARMING IN CANADA 27 



gation indicate that some of the best skins ever produced are those 

 of silvers having a red parent. There was difficulty in obtaining inform- 

 ation on this important point, as breeders were extremely reticent 

 in giving information concerning their experiences in cross-breeding 

 with reds, because of a great prejudice against such breeding on Prince 

 Edward Island. The prejudice, no doubt, results from an ignorance 

 of Mendelian principles in segregating types. 



It is interesting to note that Rev. George Clark, of St. Catharines, 

 Ont., has in his possession a black dog fox obtained from near York 

 Factory, Hudson bay, which, he asserts, has sired none but silver 

 pups, when mated with any vixen. Of course, the five or six litters sired 

 by one dog does not provide sufficient data from which to form a 

 general conclusion. It may be that many of the six thousand or more 

 red foxes kept in captivity will yet be crossed so as to produce a pro- 

 portion of silver stock. As the red foxes were generally purchased 

 from districts which produce very ordinary pelts, it is quite probable 

 that, in many cases, the resulting silver will not be of good quality. 

 The climatic conditions of Canada, however, which are very favour- 

 able to the production of good pelts, may improve exotic sub-species. 



If a prepotent race of silver foxes can be developed which will 

 produce sUver young by mating to red, thus reversing the supposed 

 dominance of the red colour, the sUver colour could be more readily pro- 

 duced; but the red colour would appear in the second generation. No 

 record of such behaviour, other than the case mentioned above, was 

 obtained, so that it is probable that breeders cannot get possession 

 of prime silver foxes by breeding them from red ones other than by 

 the usual method of mating a silver male of polygamic tendencies 

 with red females. 



Breeders are generally better pleased if cross foxes are 

 S'bLo^^*^ produced the first generation; but, as a rule, if cross 



foxes are bred out, the tendency to produce an occasional 

 red pup will never be wholly eliminated. Having cross foxes in the 

 ancestry of silver foxes means that a proportion of red gametes are 

 thrown and, at any time, a red fox may appear among the other silvers 

 in a litter. Some cases of red or cross pups bred out of silver parents 

 were recorded, but general experience, together with some evidence 

 produced, favours the opinion that the parent foxes were animals 

 captured in the wUds and probably had cross or patch parentage. 

 It may be declared generally, that the silver colom- is easily fixed 

 and will practically always breed true after one or two generations of 

 silver colour. Silver foxes can be produced of good silver colour by 

 top-crossing cross foxes with silver for several generations and, if the 



