92») NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
than near the root, giving the whole a dark appearance; a few of the hairs at the end are 
lighter, but it is not tipped with white.” The colour of the tip of the tail differs in different 
specimens. 
An individual, killed at Great Slave Lake, had its head and shoulders of a bright reddish . 
orange colour, which towards the rump acquired a gray tint by an intermixture of black and 
white hairs. On the tail the red hairs were mixed with gray and black ones, the tip was 
white. The soles of its feet were completely covered with fur. In the summer time the 
fur of the soles is worn off, and naked callous places appear, but they are not so large as 
in the English Fox. This specimen is now in the Museum of the Zoological Society, and 
from it the accompanying etching was made. 
Its DIMENSIONS ARE, 
. Feet. Inches. Feet. Inches. 
Length of head and body 6 ° 2 9 | Height at the shoulders ¢ . 1 1 
5 head alone ° ‘ 0 8 >> Of ears ° ° ° 0 22 
Bs tail (vertebre) 0 2 1 2 Distance from the end of the nose to the 
> tail with the fur 1 6 anterior angle of the eyes . : 0 3 
The Red Fox burrows in the summer, and in the winter takes shelter under a 
fallen tree. It brings forth four young about the beginning of May. They are 
covered at birth with a soft downy fur, of a yellowish-gray colour, the orange 
coloured hair not beginning to appear until they are five or six weeks old. Even 
the Indian hunters do not know the cubs at an early age from those of the Cross 
or Silver Foxes, and I therefore cannot now place the reliance I was once induced 
to do on their report of young cross foxes being found in the burrows of the Red 
Fox. I procured four cubs, a fortnight old, which several hunters said were cross 
foxes, but which proved eventually to be the red variety. These little creatures 
began very early to make burrows in the sandy floor of the house in which I kept. 
them, and used to hide themselves during the day. ‘They were, however, very 
tame, came when I called them, and would take food from my hand and carry it | 
to their different places of concealment, never eating it when overlooked. I enter- | 
tained hopes of bringing them to England, but they made their escape on the 
journey to the coast. . 
The Red Foxes prey much on the smaller animals of the rat family, but they are 
fond of fish, and reject no kind of animal food that comes in their way. They are 
taken in steel traps, and also in fall-traps, made of logs, but much nicety is 
required in setting them, as the animal is very suspicious. Some of the best fox- 
hunters in the fur countries ascribe their success to the use of assafeetida, castoreum, 
and other strong smelling substances with which they rub their traps and the small 
twigs set up in the neighbourhood, alleging that foxes are fond of such perfumes. 
The Red Fox hunts for its food chiefly in the night, but it is also frequently seen 
