Fox

FOX (female, vixen), primarily the popular name for the European species of the dog-family (Canidae) which by Linnaeus was named Canis vulpes; but by modern zoologists this species and others related to it are assigned to the genus Vulpes, because the nasal passages do not open into hollow spaces of the frontal bones as they do in Canis and its allies, and the postorbital processes are flat or hollowed instead of convex.

The typical fox (Vulpes vulpes) differs from other foxes in having a white "tag" to the tail combined with black on the backs of the ears—as thus defined the species has a wide geographical range, embracing practically the whole of Europe, Africa north of the Sahara, the whole of temperate Asia and North America as far south as Mexico. It has adapted itself to the most varied physical conditions and has become differentiated into a large number of local races or subspecies differing in size, colour, thick ness of coat and other respects. There are too many to mention in detail; but the little fox (V. v. leucopus) of the plains of north west India is of interest as illustrating the general principle that the southern races are smaller than the northern, the Himalayan fox (V.v. montana) and the Egyptian fox (V.v. aegyptiaca) being intermediate in size between it and the European race. In the matter of coat the finest foxes come from the far north. The typical colour of the species is reddish, grizzled with grey or buff, desert forms being paler than others; but the prevalent tint varies from fiery red to black, melanism being of frequent occurrence. In the North American race (V.v. fulva) for instance, there are three main varieties, the red, the cross and the silver, the cross fox being intermediate between the other two. The silver, a black fox sprinkled with white, provides valuable furs; but the price is likely to decline owing to the success that is being achieved by breeding these animals in fox farms. Most of the red fox skins on the market come from Australia where European foxes were introduced years ago to check the rabbit plague.

Habits of the Fox.

So far as is known the habits of the common fox vary in no important respect wherever it is found. It is a predacious, mostly nocturnal animal, feeding principally upon small birds and mammals but taking frogs, shell-fish, insects and even fruit at times. The sexes live apart except at the pairing season, which occurs early in the year; and, after a gesta tion period of about 63 days, the vixen brings forth her litter of four or a few more young in a burrow or natural crevice, in the spring. Only one litter is produced in the year and the young, which are blind for about ten days, are able to shift for themselves by the autumn and become adult when about a year old. Foxes do not hibernate and are as active in winter as in summer even in the coldest latitudes. Accounts of hybrids between dogs- and foxes have often been published; but there is no authenticated case known and specimens never come to hand for expert examination when demanded.

Foxes are noted for the cunning they evince in the avoidance of traps and, in countries where they are hunted by hounds, for the methods they adopt in breaking the line of scent left by their footfall on the soil, even by leaping on to the backs of sheep. Since foxes have no natural enemies other than man to trap and pursue them in that way, it has been suggested that their devices are due to instinct engendered by man's persecution con tinued generation after generation. But all the indications of the cleverness of foxes cannot be explained in that way. The means they adopt to rid themselves of fleas is a case in point. Taking in his mouth a tuft of wool or a piece of wood, a fox will slowly sink himself, tail first, into a pond and thus gradually drive the fleas forward until their last refuge is the wool or wood on the surface of the water. The fox then sets this adrift teeming with the parasites and keeping clear of it lands on the bank and makes off. The origin of this habit, which can hardly be regarded as of survival value, is at present beyond our understanding.

No other species of Vulpes has a range comparable in extent to that of the species just described. A few only occur in the same latitudes, namely the small corsac fox (V. corsac) of Amur land, the tiny little fox (V. Cana) of Baluchistan, the peculiar Tibetan fox (V. ferrilatus), which has short ears and round pupils, and the kit fox (V. velos) of the United States. Most are more southern in their range, such as the common Indian fox ( V. ven galensis), the fennecs (V. famelica and V. zerda) of the Sahara and the South African fox (V. chama) . There are no foxes in south-eastern Asia, south of China ; and the only animal in Central America and the northern part of South America that deserves the name is the grey fox (Urocyon cinereo-argenuens), placed in a different genus on account of certain cranial peculiar ities and the presence of an erectile crest along the spine. The other so-called South American foxes have the characteristics of Canis not of Vulpes; and the South African Delalande's fox (Otocyon megalotis) differs entirely in dentition from both these genera. Mainly to the north of the distributional area of the typical fox but overlapping it in parts of its range occurs the circumpolar Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) which is represented by many local races. This species has the cranial characteristics of Vulpes but in some other respects is intermediate between that genus and Canis. One of the colour phases of this fox, known in the fur trade as the "blue" fox, is a permanent melanic variety which does not turn white in winter. The normal variety turns white like the Arctic hare, at that season , but is grizzled brown with white under parts in summer. (See CARNIVORA.) (R. I. P.)