SILVER FOX FAEMING. 3 
rich fulvous, except for restricted black markings on the feet and ears, 
a white area at the end of the tail, and certain white- tipped hairs on 
the back and rump. Grading into the next phase the black increases 
in extent until, in the typical cross fox, the black predominates on 
the feet, legs, and underparts, while fulvous overlaying black covers 
most of the head, shoulders, and back. A gradual increase of the 
black and elimination of the fulvous, or its replacement by white, 
results in the next phase, the silver (or silver gray) fox (fig. 1), in 
which the entire pelage is dark at the base and heavily or lightly 
overlaid with grayish wdiite. The color of silver foxes varies from 
grizzly to pure black, except for a few white-tipped hairs on the back 
Fig. 1.— A silver fox. 
and rump. Finally, in the black phase, the white is absent from all 
parts except the tip of the tail, which is white in all four phases. 
The red phase is much more abundant than the others, but all four 
interbreed freely, and wherever one occurs occasional examples of 
the others may be expected. In general the cross fox is fairly com- 
mon, the silver gray scarce, and the pure black very rare. 
The market value of skins of the different phases depends upon 
the relative scarcity of the animals. The price paid for black skins, 
however, has recently fallen considerably below that of silvers, for 
the reason that furriers now dye ordinary red fox skins a lustrous 
black, and put them on the market at a comparatively low figure. 
