THE DOG FAMILY 95 
‘THE FOXES 
Foxes form a very well-marked group. They have very pointed muzzles, strong though 
slightly built bodies, very fine thick fur, often beautifully coloured and very valuable, bushy tails, 
pricked-up ears, and eyes with pupils which contract by day into a mere slit. They are quite 
distinct from dogs (although wolves are not), and will not interbreed, though stories are told to 
the contrary. The smell of a fox is disgusting to a dog, and quite sufficient to distinguish it. 
If the present writer takes a simpler view of the kinds and species of foxes than that 
adopted by many naturalists, he must plead to a study of the subject on slightly different lines 
than those usually followed. The skins of all foxes are valuable, some more than others. But 
they are sent in hundreds of thousands, and from all parts of the northern hemisphere, to 
London to the great fur-sales. There these differences can be studied as they can be studied 
Photo by C, Reid] Wishaw, N. B, 
FOX CUBS 
Fox cubs are born from March 25 till three weeks later, the time when young rabbits, their best food, are most numerous 
nowhere else. As the habits and structure of foxes are much alike, allowing for differences 
of climate, and the discrepancies in size, not rnore than can be accounted for by abundance or 
scarcity of food, it seems pretty certain that these animals are some of the few, almost alone 
among mammals, showing almost every variety of colouring, from black to white, from splendid 
chameleon-red to salmon-pink, and many exquisite shades of brown, gray and sliver. In the 
East, from Asia Minor to China, red, gray, and yellow fox skins are the lining of every rich 
man’s winter wraps. Splendid mixed robes are made by the Chinese by inserting portions of 
cross fox-skins into coats of cut sable, giving the idea that it is the fur of a new animal. 
The Common Fox, the foundation or type of all the above, is the best known carnivorous 
animal in this country. Abroad its habits do not greatly differ, except that, not being hunted 
much with hounds, it is less completely nocturnal. It drops its young in a dugout early in 
April. Thither the mother carries food till late in June, when the cubs come out, and often 
move to a wood or a corn-field. There they are still fed, but learn to do a little on their 
own account by catching mice and moles. By late September the hounds come cub-hunting, 
