MAMMALS OF SAC COUNTY 
279 
fox is still trapped, and the newspapers usually report the cap- 
ture of about one a year in various parts of the county. The 
last one reported was captured by Jim Basler near Sac City in 
the winter of 1913-14 (3). 
Gray Fox ( Urocyon cinerogentus) . One man only (3), re- 
ported gray fox, and he stated that they were as common as red 
fox, the same size, and of similar habits, the only difference 
being color. 
Swift Fox (Vulpes velox ) , Reports as to the abundance of 
this fox vary. One man (1) states that they were rather plen- 
tiful; another, that they were scarcer than red fox. This man 
(4) said that- they stayed mostly on the prairie and that their 
track was about the size of a cat track. He caught six in 1858 
and never saw any more. Another man (2) told of a small 
“red” fox about one-half the size of a common red fox and a 
trifle lighter in color, which he called the “sampson” fox. Still 
another man reported trapping one at Correction pond in 1862 
(3). He said they stayed on the pairie and were about one- 
half the size of the red fox. This same man (3) reported a 
“fist© wolf,” which he described as exactly like a prairie wolf 
or coyote, gray in color, but only about the size of a house cat, 
and making a track about the size of a cat track. He stated 
that it lbed in muskrat houses in winter and on the hills in 
summer, feeding on prairie chickens and mice. He trapped the 
last one in 1857 and had seen twenty or thirty skins which 
were worth 25 to 30 cents apiece. I could not identify this ani- 
mal from the description, and wrote the Biological Survey. Mr. 
E. W. Nelson’s reply stated that it must have been a gray phase 
of the swift fox. 
Coyote (Canis latrans). Coyotes were reported very common 
at the time of the first settlement (2, 3, 4) . One man reported 
that the coyotes hunted and killed red foxes but did not eat 
them (4). After the country settled up the coyotes decreased 
very much in numbers, but a few have always persisted. Of 
late years they seem to be increasing in numbers. Reports ap- 
pear in the newspapers of from one to three dens of cubs being 
dug out every spring, with the female only occasionally cap- 
tured. I trapped three in the winter gf 1913-14 near Wall 
Lake, and two others were trapped in other parts of the county, 
according to newspaper reports. At the present day the coyotes 
