THE EUROPEAN FOX. 
215 
great difference in their attitudes, the upright bearing 
of the Wolf and other species of that division, although 
mingled with a degree of dogged indecision, strongly 
contrasting with the crouching and almost trailing pos- 
ture in which the Foxes make their advances. The 
bodies of the latter seem consequently to be much less 
elevated upon their legs, and to be even somewhat 
elongated ; and their shoulders and haunches assume 
a broader and more rounded form. Their heads also 
are broader and flatter, and terminate in a narrower, 
shorter, and more pointed muzzle. Their tails are 
considerably longer, and much more bushy and their 
furs, especially the winter coat and in the more northern 
regions, longer, softer, and far more valuable as an 
article of commerce. The lobes of the incisor teeth of 
their upper jaw are not in general so distinctly marked 
as those of the Dog. 
The discrimination of the various species of Foxes 
which are spread over almost every part of the Old 
and the New Continent is attended with no little diffi- 
culty, in consequence of the great uniformity in size, 
form, and general disposition of colours subsisting be- 
tween all the different races. There are, however, in 
many cases, peculiarities of physiognomy, variations in 
the character of the fur, and diflTerences in manners 
sufficiently obvious to the eye of an attentive observer, 
although, it must be confessed, not very strongly 
marked. The European Fox is too well known to 
require minute description, and its distinctive charac- 
ters will be best understood when we come to compare 
it with the other species. It will be sufficient for the 
present to say that its ground colour in its most usual 
state is of a dull reddish fawn of various degrees of 
intensity, with a strong tendency to assume a blackish 
tinge along the middle of the back and across the 
