AMERICAN RED FOX. 
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galleries and sinking a hole at intervals of seven or eight feet, to dig 
out and capture the animal. When thus taken he displays but little 
courage — sometimes, like the Opossum, closing his eyes and feigning 
death. 
The young, from ibur to six at a birth, are born in F ebruary and March, 
they are blind when born, and are not seen at the mouth of the den for 
about six weeks. 
It is at this period, when the snows in the Northern States are still on 
the ground, that the Fox, urged by hunger and instinct, goes out in search 
of prey. At a later period, both the parents hunt to provide food for their 
young. They are particularly fond of young lambs, which thej’’ carry off 
for miles to their burrows. They also kill geese, turkeys, ducks, and other 
poultry, and have a bad reputation with the farmer. They likewise feed 
on grouse and partridges, as well as on hares, squirrels, and field-rats of 
various species, as we have previously mentioned. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
The Red Fox exists in the fur countries to the North, is found in La- 
brador to the East, and in the Russian settlements on the West of our 
continent. Its Southern limit at present is Abbeville, in South Carolina, 
and Augusta, in Georgia ; a few individuals have been seen in those 
States, near the sea-board. It also appears in Tennessee, Kentucky, and 
Missouri. We have not heard of its existence in Florida, Louisiana, or 
Texas. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
It is now so generally admitted that the Red F ox of America is a dis- 
tinct species from the European Fox ; that a comparison seems unneces- 
sary. We have seen no specimen in this country that can be referred to 
Canis vulpes. 
