offspring.” Kalm* considers neither of these accounts as satisfactory ; indeed, as
to the former, none of the Indian tribes inhabiting New England could possibly
have any knowledge of the state of the sea to the north, and to this day the tribes
dwelling even twenty degrees of latitude nearer its shores are equally ignorant
of it. The Esquimaux alone inhabit the coast, and it is unlikely that any accounts
from them could be transmitted through ten or twelve intermediate nations, most
of whom have been from time immemorial at war with their neighbours.
[29.] 6. Canis (Vulpes) c i n e r e o - a r g e n t a t u s . The Kit Fox.
Archithinew Pox. Htttchiss, MSS. Pexnakt, Arct._ Zml. Supply p. 52,
Kit Fox, or small burrowing Pox of the plain. Lewis & Clark, vol. i. p. 400 j vol.iii.pp. 29, 282.
flan is velox. Say, Long's Exped., vol. ii. p. 339. Harlan", Fauna, p. 91.
Canis cinereo-argentatus. Sabine, Franklin's Joum., p. 658.
Le Benard tricolor. F. Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Mamm.
The Swift Fox. Godman, Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 282.
Kit Fox. Fur Traders. CMen de Prairie-j-. Canadian Yoyagers.
The species which forms the subject of this article burrows in the open plains
extending from the Saskatchewan to the Missouri, and, according to Lewis and
Clark, also in the plains of the Columbia. Mr. Sabine has referred it to the
Canis cinereo-argentatus of Schreher, or the Fulvous-necked Fox of Shaw, and most
probably correctly ; but many points with regard to its synonyms require to be
cleared up, as authors in their descriptions appear to have confounded it with the
gray or Virginian Fox. Schreher himself may have partly produced the error,
by terming the animal C. griseus in his text, and C. cinereo-argentatus on the
plate. It has long been known to the Hudson’s Bay fur-traders, its skins forming
a portion of their annual exports, under the name of kit foxes. It is, as Mr. Sabine
justly remarks, the smallest of the American foxes; but the measurement that he
gives of two feet for the length of the head and body, being taken from a hunter’s
skin, which is always much stretched, is too great. I was unsuccessful in my
endeavours to procure a recent specimen of this interesting little quadruped,
* Kalm’9 Travels, (Pinkerton's Tr.) pages 13 ajid 467*
The name of“ Prairie Dog” is bestowed also on the Louisiana inarmot, and on other animals.
although I Saw many hunters’ skins. The Saskatchewan river is the northern
limit of its range. Its burrows are formed in the open part of the plains,
at a distance from the woody country. According to Mr. Say, it excels even
the antelope hi fleetness; and Lewis and Clark inform us that it is extremely
vigilant, and betakes itself, on the slightest alarm, to its burrows, which are very
deep. It seems to be the American representative Of the corsac, inhabiting
similar districts ; and possibly like the corsac its fur changes its colours with the
seasons.
Description
OF A HUNTER’S SKIN
The nose .is considerably shorter, and the face broader than in other foxes. The upper part
of the nose is covéred by Very short hairs of a pale yellowish, or wood, brown colour, on each
side of which there is an oval patch of brownish fur, rendered hoary by many of its hairs being
tipped with white. The whiskers, are, strong, and of a black colour, fading into brown at their
tips. The portion of the lip anterior to them is brownish white; and the whole upper lip is
margined by a stripe of .white hairs about half an inch wide. There is* however, a narrow
blackish-brown litie between the white and the posterior angle of the mouth, which is prolonged
round the margin of the lower lip. The upper part of the head, including the cheeks and
orbits, the superior surface of the neck, the back and hips, are covered with fur of a pleasant
grizzled colour, produced by an intermixture of hairs tipped with brown, black, and white.
On the crown of the head, the yellowish-brown predominates, the white is equally diffused
through it, there is no dark central line, and the grizzled colour unites gradually before the
eyes with the unmixed fawn colour of the nose. The White hairs prevail immediately round
the orbits, and there is much white on the cheeks. Qn the neck, where the fur lies smooth,
the white, with a slight intermixture of black, is the colour of the surface, the yellowish-brown
being seen only through the interstices of the longer hairs. Towards the rump less of the brown
is seen, and more of the black hairs, but the white tips still predominate. The fur on the parts
just enumerated appears, when blown aside, of a deep clove-brown, or brownish-gray colour
from the roots for three-fourths of its length upwards ; it is then yellowish-brown, followed by a
very narrow ring of black, a larger ring of pure white, and generally a minute black tip. There
are also, particularly towards the posterior part of the back, many interspersed hairs considerably
longer than the others, which are black from the root to the tip. The breadth of the
grizzled colours on the neck does not exceed the distance between the ears, but it gradually
widens from the shoulders backwards. The sides of the neck, the shoulders and flanks, are of
a dull reddish-orange, or very pale tile-red colour. The fur on these parts is longer but not so
dense as that on the back, and is bluish-gray one half of its length, and reddish the remainder.
On the flanks there are a few intermixed black hairs. The lower jaw is white, with a tinge
of blackish-brown on its margins and towards its extremity. The chest exhibits the same
reddish-orange colour with the sides; the throat and belly and inner surfaces of the extremities