786 
specie is represented,—that being the Red Fox, 
Vulpes fulvus■ The others are but varieties. 
There has been a great deal of debate in the 
matter of this classification. That is regarding 
the above-mentioned, the cross fox, the Black 
or the Silver Fox. These are varieties; they are 
not distinct species. They are no more distinct 
species than are the al'binoes that occur now 
and then among all varieties of animals and as 
witnessed in human beings also. Therefore, the 
Cross Fox, the Black Fox, and the Silver Gray 
Fox are but rare occurrences in breeding. Close 
investigation upon the subject has led to all of 
these being found represented in a Red Fox lit¬ 
ter; and we have only to go to that last word 
of authority, Audubon, to find this proposition 
vigorously upheld; for his investigations and 
researches have been conclusively the same as 
those above listed. 
Says Dr. Bachman, the editorial associate of 
Audubon, in that eminent book: “Quadrupeds of 
America”: 
“A Cross Fox, nearly black, was frequently 
seen in a particular cover. We offered, what was 
in those days, considered a high premium for 
the animal in the flesh. The fox was accordingly 
chased, and shot at by the boys of the vicinity. 
The autumn and winter passed away and still 
the fox was at large. In the spring we induced 
one of our servants to dig for the young foxes 
that had been seen at the burrow, which was 
known to be frequented by this same Cross Fox 
we had never been able to capture. There were 
seven of them. Three were black, and the rest 
were red. The blackest of the young whelps 
was retained by us; and we frequently saw at 
the house of a neighbor, another of the litter 
that was red, and differed in no respect from 
the common red fox. The older our little pet 
became, the less it grew like the black, and the 
more like the Cross Fox. It was, much to our 
regret, killed by a dog when about six months 
old, and as far as we can recollect, was nearly 
of the color. 
“The following autumn we determined to try 
our hand at procuring the enchanted fox, which 
was the parent of these young varieties, as it 
could always be started in the same vicinity. 
We obtained a fine pair of young hounds and 
gave chase, but with no success- On the third 
hunt, however, we took our stand near the 
corner of an old field, at a spot we had twice 
observed it to pass. A good aim removed the 
mysterious charm. We killed it with squirrel 
shot. It was nearly jet-black, with the tip of 
the tail, white. This fox was the female which 
had produced the young of the previous spring, 
that we have just spoken of; and as some of 
them, as we have already said, were Cross Foxes, 
and others Red Foxes, thus has settled the ques¬ 
tion, in our minds, that both the Cross Fox and 
the Black Fox are mere varieties of the common 
Red Fox.” 
The problem presented now is this: Will con¬ 
sistent breeding of Silver Grays with Silver 
Grays bring forth a total of Silver Grays; will 
the litter be all Silver Gray or will there be 
set-backs, to Cross Fox and Red Fox? On this 
point I have never noted reference; but surely 
the information exists, for Silver Gray fur farm¬ 
ing has now become a most profitable institution, 
and constant breeding must unbare information 
covering these interesting points. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Audubon in his time made an odd declaration. 
He said: 
“As a general rule we are obliged to admit 
that a fox is a wolf, and that a small wolf may 
be termed a fox!” Noting further—“The char¬ 
acters of this genus differ so slightly from 
those of the genus canis that we pause before 
removing it from the sub-genus in which it has 
so long remained.” 
Charles W. Webber, in 1852, author of “The 
Natural History of Texas,” debates this as fol¬ 
lows : 
“I do not perceive that there was any special 
reason for doubt about the matter, for I have 
always been surprised that the foxes have not 
been recognized by naturalists, through all time, 
as a separate genus. The common sense of man¬ 
kind has always so placed them, but it seems 
that the common sense of naturalists has been 
something different. Nobody but a technicalist 
was ever satisfied with seeing the fox classed as 
a sub-genus of canis. Apart from slight physi¬ 
cal coincidents, it is distinct in habits, character, 
etc., so that we could quite as readily be content to 
see the humming bird classed as a moth. There 
is almost as much reason for one as the other. 
The truth seems to me to be, that as the hum¬ 
ming bird, though distinct in its own character, 
forms the connecting link between insects and 
birds, so does the fox that between the genera 
canis and lynx; which last, it will be remembered, 
was once, in a like manner, classed as a feline.” 
The red fox has been a figure in history, in 
literature and what-not, from time immemorable. 
It has been termed in this excerpt, for instance, 
“the embodiment of quadrupedal treachery,” and 
the early English poet, Chaucer, dipped his goose- 
quill in ink and dubbed him, “0 false morder- 
our, reeching in thy den!” Yet another excerpt: 
“No antiquity is so remote that he will not brush 
off the green rime of ages, to count the wrinkles 
on its front; no fame so awful, or overshadow¬ 
ing, that he will not, wi l h familiar hands, stroke 
the mane of darkness till it smiles, and render 
up the secrets of its glory.” 
Among all the foxes perhaps there is no in¬ 
dividual member quite equal to the red fox, in 
cunning and innate artfulness; this, undoubtedly, 
for the reason that the red fox, more than any 
other member has been pursued so constantly, 
and so deliberately that in the name of self- 
preservation it has been presented, by a wise 
and provident Nature, with an instinct so sharp¬ 
ly-defined that it almost borders on human in¬ 
telligence. For instance, the ability to cope with 
men and hounds has been practically inborn in 
the red fox; yet who can say the same of any 
other member of the family? 
The red fox possesses an astonishing sagaci¬ 
ousness. It will resort to innumerable devices 
whereby to foil its pursuers. This is nothing 
new; it is history, tradition. There is hardly a 
fox hunter who has not met up with just such 
wonderfully keen-minded individuals. I have 
read many accounts, in my day, of the cunning 
of foxes, and have heard from word of mouth 
equally as many. Of the latter hear this one: 
“After a chase of an hour or so, just enough 
to blow the dogs and the horses well, we would 
invariably lose the fox at a given spot, the fence 
corner of a large plantation, which was opened 
into a heavy forest on one side of an old field. 
The frequency and certainty of this event be¬ 
came the standing joke of the country. Fox 
hunters from other neighborhoods would bring 
their packs for miles, to have a run out of this 
mysterious fox, in the hope of clearing up the 
mystery. But, no. They were all baffled alike. 
We often examined the ground critically, to find 
out, if possible the mode of escape but could 
discover nothing that in any way accounted for 
it, or suggested anything in regard to it. That 
it did not fly was very sure; that it must escape 
along the fence in some way was equally so. My 
first idea was, that the animal, as is very com¬ 
mon, had climbed upon the top rail of the fence 
and walked along it to such a distance before 
leaping off, that the dogs were entirely thrown 
out. I accordingly followed the fence with the 
whole pack about me, clear round the whole 
plantation, but without striking the trail again, 
or making any discovery. The affair now became 
quite serious. At last I determined to watch at 
the fence corner and see what became of the 
fox. At a certain time the fox made his appear¬ 
ance, coming on at a leisurely pace, ahead of the 
hounds. When he reached the corner he climbed 
in a most unhurried and deliberate way to the 
top rail of the fence and then walked along it, 
balancing himself as carefully as a rope dancer. 
I followed cautiously, so as to keep him in view. 
Before he had thus proceeded more than two 
hundred yards, the hounds came up to the cor¬ 
ner and he very deliberately paused and looked 
back for a moment, then he hurried on along 
the fence some paces further and when he came 
opposite a dead, leaning tree, which s‘ood in¬ 
side the fence some twelve or fifteen feet distant, 
he stooped, made a high and long bound to a 
knot upon the side of the trunk, up which he 
ran, and entered a hollow in the top where it 
had been broken off, near thirty feet from the 
ground, in some storm. The tree stood at such 
a distance from the fence that no one of us, 
who had examined the ground, ever dreamed 
of the possibility that the fox would leap to 
it; it seemed absolutely an inconceivable, physi¬ 
cal impossibility; but practice and the convenient 
knot had enabled cunning Reynard to overcome 
it with assured ease !” 
By far and away the wisest system I have 
known, and investigated, is the so-called, relay 
method of eluding pursuers. This, upon word 
of eminent fox hunters, is participated in, not 
only by the red fox but also the gray fox. 
The relay system works in this manner: A 
fox is run, and when practically tired out meets 
with another fox, that runs out in full view of 
the hounds and takes up the trail. The hounds 
follow, and in due course of time this winded 
fox returns to the old territory and is relieved 
by the first fox. That this has been done, many 
fox hunters will admit though it would seem 
this approaches so close to human intelligence 
that it is hard to grasp. However, there are 
so many things occurring in the animal world, 
far and away out of the ordinary, that the above 
may not be new. 
A certain hunter of the West recently, in 
outdoor magazine literature, created quite a fu¬ 
rore by the following remark made in the course 
of an article on wildcat hunting: 
“The foxes (of California) are either trapped 
or run at night with a swift dog, as a swift 
dog will tree them the same as a coon, but they 
will leave a slow dog and lose him in the rocks, 
