THE KIT FOX. 
C. C. M. 
ONE of the smallest of the foxes 
is the kit fox (Vulpes velox), 
sometimes called the swift fox 
and ilso the burrowing fox, get- 
ting the latter name for the ability and 
rapidity with which it digs the holes in 
the ground in which it lives. It is an 
inhabitant of the northwestern states 
and of the western Canadian provinces, 
covering the region from southeastern 
Nebraska northwest to British Colum- 
bia. Its length is about twenty inches, 
exclusive of the tail, which is about 
twelve inches long. The overhair is 
fine, the back is a pure gray, the sides 
yellow, and the under parts white. The 
ears are small and covered with hair 
and the soles are also hairy. The kit 
fox is much smaller in size than either 
the gray or red fox, but has propor- 
tionately longer limbs than either of 
them. 
Reynard, of all animals, in spite of 
the fact that he is accepted as the em- 
blem of cunning, slyness, deceit, and 
mischief, is prasied by proverb and 
tradition, and the greatest of German 
poets, Goethe, made him the subject of 
an epic. Pechuel-Loesche says: 
"The fox of tradition and poetry and 
the fox in real life are really two very 
different animals. Whoever observes 
him with an unprejudiced mind fails to 
discover any extraordinary degree of 
that much-praised presence of mind, 
cleverness, cunning, and practical sense, 
or even an unusually keen development 
of the senses. In my opinion he is by 
no means superior in his endow- 
ments to other beasts of prey, espe- 
cially the wolf. The most that can be 
truly said in his praise is to admit that, 
when he is pursued, he knows how to 
adapt himself to the surrounding cir- 
cumstances, but scarcely more so 
than other sagacious animals. Like 
many other animals, including the 
harmless species, some old foxes may 
have their wits unusually sharpened by 
experience, but every huntsman who 
has had much to do with foxes will ad- 
mit that there are a great many which 
are not ingenious, and some which may 
even be called stupid, and this refers 
not only to young, inexperienced foxes, 
but also to many old ones. The fox is 
a rascal and knows his trade, because 
he has to make a living somehow. He is 
impudent, but only when driven by 
hunger or when he has to provide for 
his little family; and in bad plights he 
shows neither presence of mind nor 
deliberation, but loses his head com- 
pletely. He is caught in clumsy traps, 
and this even repeatedly. In the open 
country he allows a sled to approach 
him within gunshot; he permits him- 
self to be surrounded in a hunt in 
spite of the noise and shots, instead of 
wisely taking to his heels; in short, this 
animal, which is more relentlessly pur- 
sued than any other inhabitant of the 
woods, still has not learned to see 
through all the tricks of men and shape 
his actions accordingly." 
All of which may be literally true, 
nevertheless Reynard is the hero of a 
hundred stories and pictures and he 
will continue to be regarded as a remark- 
ably clever and interesting animal. 
The coat of the fox corresponds 
closely to his surroundings. Those 
species living on plains and deserts 
show the similarity of their color with 
that of the ground; the southern fox 
differs considerably from the northern 
and the fox of the mountains from that 
of the plains. 
The fox usually selects his home in 
deep hollows, between rocks covered 
with branches, or between roots of 
trees. Whenever he can avoid doing 
so he does not dig a burrow himself, 
but establishes himself in some old, de- 
serted badger's hole, or shares it with 
the badger in spite of the latter's objec- 
tions. If it is possible, the fox exca- 
vates his burrows in mountain walls, so 
that the conduits lead upwards, without 
running close to the surface. In his 
prowlings he regards his security as 
paramount to every other considera- 
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