142 
ON THE GEOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 
strain, then another will take it up in some other direction, and so on, until the traveller 
is convinced that he is surrounded by all the wolves in the country. Their barking sounds 
much like that of a small dog. Range: From Missouri river to the Pacific, south to the 
Rio Grande of Texas. 
Vulpes macrourus, Baird. 
Prairie Fox. Baird, General Report on Mammals, 1857, p. 130. 
This beautiful animal is found quite abundantly throughout the Upper Missouri country, 
where its fur is considered quite valuable. It presents all the different varieties of the 
common red fox, cross, silver, and black, the fur of which is also very highly prized. I 
have known the skin of the silver variety to sell for one hundred dollars. In the spring of 
1855, I purchased a young prairie fox of the Sioux Indians, near Fort Pierre, and kept 
him for some months. The troops soon took possession of Fort Pierre, and the fox passed 
into other hands, and I considered him lost, but on the return of our party to Fort Pierre 
from the Yellowstone, in the autumn of 1856, I was presented with the identical fox, 
which I had purchased nearly two years before. He had become quite tame, readily 
recognized his name, and seemed quite contented in his confinement. We brought him 
on to Washington, where he was much admired for his beauty, and after a sojourn of a 
few months in the metropolis, he made his escape, and if now living, doubtless forms a 
part of the fauna of the Atlantic coast. Range: Upper Missouri to the Plains of Colum¬ 
bia, Oregon Territory. 
Vulpes velox, Aud. & Bach. 
Kit Fox, Swift Fox, p. 133. 
This little Fox is often caught in the traps which the employees of the Fur Company 
set for wolves. From fifty to one hundred are caught every winter, in the immediate 
vicinity of each of the trading forts on the Missouri. Its skin is not considered very valua¬ 
ble, bringing only tw r enty-five cents apiece. Like the prairie wolf, it is found very abun¬ 
dantly about the villages of the prairie dog, and is, I suppose, another of the enemies of 
that little animal. For what reason it has been called “ Swift Fox,” I cannot tell, for its 
speed is less than any other species of fox with which I am acquainted. It is quite 
abundant all through the Northwest, extending down into Western Iowa. Range; 
Plains west of the Missouri to the Cascade mountains of Oregon. 
PUTORIUS LONGICAUDA, Rich. 
Long-tailed Weasel. Baird, General Report on Mammals, 1857, p. 169. 
Not uncommon throughout the Northwest, though seldom seen by the traveller. Its 
skin is highly prized by the Indians, who use it for making articles of dress, tobacco 
