224 FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



The so-called " silver " fox of the far "West is valued 

 for his remarkably beautiful skin, which biings no less 

 than one hundred and twenty -five dollars if it is in its 



prime. The handsomest 

 skins come from the ex- 

 treme Northwest. But 

 I must draw attention 

 to the fact that there 



"tsT"" ^^^ ^^* ^''^^ species 

 Silver-gray Fox. of foxes common in 



the country east of 

 the Mississippi Valley : one is Vtilpes jjennsylva'ni- 

 cus, and the other is Urucyon cinereo-argenteus. The 

 former species, usually called the common or red fox 

 is now considered the one species which must include 

 the so-called " silver " fox ( Vu/jjes argentatus), the 

 so-called " cross " fox * ( Vulpes decussatus), and the 

 so-called Western fox ( Vuljies macpuruH). 



The generally accepted opinion that the color of a 

 fox decides the species, is thrown to the winds by 



* Tlio " cross " fox is more or less frequent as far south as 

 northern New York and northern New England, and throughout 

 the more elevated jDortions of the great Rooky Mountain plateau, 

 where it constitutes a large proportion of the rejiresentatives of 

 the so-called Viilpea macnirnx. More rarely the black or so-called 

 silver fox is met with in the same regions, becoming frequent in 

 the higher parts of the Rocky Mountains and northward. — J. A. 

 Allen. Bulletin of the United States Geographical Survey, vol. 

 ii, No. 4, Vi'ashington. 



