4 



farmers' BULLETIN 795. 



The first American fur animal to be domesticated permanently 

 was the silver or silver-gray fox (fig. 1), a rare and beautiful color 

 phase of the common red fox 1 found in nearly all of the United 

 States and Canada. 



The relation of silver foxes to ordinary red foxes is the same as 

 that of black squirrels to gray squirrels, or black muskrats to brown 

 muskrats. That is to say, the black individuals are of the same 

 species as those having the regular color. In a litter of fox cubs born 

 of red parents, perhaps there may be one silver. On the other hand, 

 one or more of the cubs of a wild silver vixen are quite certain to be 



B629M 



Fig. 1. — A silver fox bred in captivity. Note the tip of the tail, which is white in all 

 phases of the ordinary red fox. 



red. Fortunately, experience has shown that when silvers are bred 

 in captivity the tendency to produce reds can be overcome by selective 

 breeding. 



The average red fox has the throat, breast, and belly white, and 

 the sides and upperparts mainly red, this color being pure across the 

 shoulders and on the nape of the neck but sparsely mixed with white 

 on the back and sides. Close inspection discloses that the red and 

 white are only on the surface, and that the fur beneath is almost 

 black on the upperparts and dusky gray on throat and belly. It 

 shows also that the fine hair or wool constituting the underfur is 

 tipped with red and that, as a rule, the coarse guard hairs have a 



1 Genus Vulpes, 



