202 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



of the country from the .Vthmtic to the Pacific. Its fur 

 on the back ia a ' pepper-and-salt ' gra}' with a red and 

 white wash on the throat, sides of neck, sides of body 

 and legs. Its head is broad, and it is neither as graceful 

 nor as finely furred as the Red Fox. This Gray Fox is a 

 more snarling, disagreeable beast than his red brother, 

 but does not seem to be a blood-thirsty hunter, and kills 

 merely what he needs for food. Though he is fond of 

 grouse, chickens, Rabbits, and the eggs and young of 

 game birds and domestic fowls alike, he also eats 

 Meadow Mice and several kinds of rats, which habit 

 should be set down for a good mark beside his name. 



" The Gray Fox can climb Avell, for he has strong 

 curved nails that stick out beyond the furred toes, so 

 he often escapes from his enemies by going up trees 

 that may be quite branchless for twenty or thirty feet. 

 He also prefers a hollow log or tree to an earth burrow 

 as a nest for his puppies, which are not as numerous or 

 as pretty as those of our Red Fox." 



'■ I can remember about that," said Nat. " The Gray 

 Fox belongs to the south ; our Red-Cross-Silver-Black 

 Fox to the middle and not too far north, and then 

 there is a white one for the very far north." 



" Yes, the xVrctic Fox, who lives as near to the never- 

 found Xorth Pole as men have been able to go. 



" He is bundled up and dressed in the very best style 

 for an Arctic explorer, and for this reason he looks 

 more like a cur dog, and has not the dapper, thorough- 

 bred appearance of his sleek red cousin. This Arctic 

 Fox has a bunchy body with short, round, fur-lined 

 ears, and ruffs of fur which give his face a catlike 

 expression. Summer and winter his coat is white, 



