40 
ZOOLOGY 
while the swifter, stronger, and more cunning red fox by degrees almost entirely usurped its 
place. Hence the farmers supposed they had themselves introduced this farm yard pest, and 
that it had been the companion of their migration from the east; and, as it was then con¬ 
founded with the common fox of Europe, (V. vulgaris,) it was supposed to be an importation, 
which ultimately would drive off its weaker relative and possess the continent. 
Since, however, the red fox has been found in various places in the far west, and spread over 
all the region west of the Rocky mountains, and the red fox of America has been pronounced 
different from the red fox of Europe, this theory falls to the ground, and we must look for some 
other cause to account for the usurpation of the habitat of the gray fox by the red. 
The grey fox is evidently best fitted hy nature for the occupation of a wooded country ; he even 
has, to a certain degree, the power of climbing trees, not possessed hy Vulpes fulvus, while 
he rarely or never forms burrows, having no cover but such as the forest furnishes, and thus is 
comparatively unprotected in an open country, where the red fox would be quite at home. To 
these differences of habit, rather than to any other cause, I would attribute the change of 
distribution noticed in the two species. 
In California and Oregon the gray fox is quite common, at least in the wooded portions. Of 
the several specimens obtained from there, none present any marked differences from the gray 
fox of the eastern States. 
One specimen was collected in Napa valley. 
YULPES (UROCYON) LITTORALIS, Baird. 
Coast Fox; Short-Tailed Fox. 
Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 143. 
Sp. Ch. —Scarcely more than half the size of the common grey fox (Vulpes virginianus). Tail one-third the length of body. 
Above, hoary and black ; sides of neck, fore legs, and lower part of sides, dull cinnamon ; chin and sides of muzzle black. 
Tail with a concealed mane of stiff hairs, and with a black stripe above. 
This species was first discovered on the Island of San Miguel, off the California coast, hy Lieut. 
Trowbridge, United States army. His attention was first called to it by its familiarity and 
fearlessness, its small size, and remarkably short tail. On setting a trap, one was immediately 
taken, and for some days kept in confinement ; he escaped, however, and the next night was 
retaken in the same trap which had first secured him, being identified by the leather strap 
which remained on his neck. The same thing occurred several times in immediate succession, 
the fox evincing a total want of the vulpine cunning which so generally sets at defiance the 
trapper’s art. A number of specimens were obtained by Lieutenant Trowbridge, and, after 
careful examination, Professor Baird has determined it to he distinct from any species hitherto 
known. The colors of the animal are, in general, those of the gray fox, from which it differs 
in size, length of tail, in habit, and in certain osteological characters, which are fully set forth 
in the specific description given hy Professor Baird. 
So far as known, it inhabits exclusively the island of San Miguel. 
BASSARIS ASTUTA. 
Civet Cat. 
Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 147. 
This beautiful animal, which, at the time Audubon’s description was written, was supposed 
to be peculiar to Texas and Mexico, has since been found somewhat abundantly in California. 
