Canis Fulvus. Red Fox.
The Red Fox is the most frequently met with, and approaches nearest to the European
though differing much from it. It is of slighter make and taller on the legs ; the
visage is long and sharp ; the ears erect and pointed, their outside black, and inside
white ; its general colour is bright ferruginous on the head, back and sides, but less
brilliant towards the ta il; under the chin it is white ; the throat and neck dark
grey ; and this colour is continued along the first part of the belly in a stripe of
less width than on the breast; the under parts towards the tail are very pale red ; the
fronts of the four legs and the feet are black, and the fronts of the lower parts of the
hind legs are also black ; the tail is very bushy, but less ferruginous than the body, the
hairs mostly terminated with black, and more so towards the extremity than near the
root, giving the whole a dark appearance; a few of the hairs at the end are lighter,
but it is not tipped with white. The above description of the colour of the body
and tail is from a skin belonging to the Hudson’s Bay Company, which may be considered
as in its best state ; in the specimen sent home by the Expedition, and which
was probably killed in the latter part of the winter, the fur on the body is longer,
and has lost all its brilliancy of colour ; the whole appears to be in preparation for
change, the upper parts of the legs having already lost the long hairs and exhibiting
a short red coat, which is of course only beginning to grow. The fur of the skin
which has been described is long, though not so extended as in the winter specimen ;
from the appearance of which it may be concluded, that the animal, when it loses its
winter covering, does not, till after some interval, obtain the length of fur which is
requisite to the skin in a commercial view. The specimen, having been set up, stands
eighteen inches high ; it is near two feet in length, and the tail measures sixteen
inches.
Cants Decussatus. Cross Fox.
The specimen received from Captain Franklin and that from the Hudson’s Bay
Company, nearly correspond ; the colours of the latter are rather more brilliant and
darker ; it also appears to have been taken from a somewhat larger animal. The
Cross Fox, in comparison with the Red, is shorter on its legs, and has a larger and
longer body, being altogether a stronger animal. The front of'the head is grey, composed
of black and white hairs, the latter predominating on the forehead; the ears
are large, covered with short soft black fur behind, and within with long yellowish
hairs ; the back of the neck and shoulders are pale ferruginous, crossed with dark
stripes, one extending from the head to the back, the other passing the first at right
angles over the shoulders; the rest of the back is grey, composed of black fur tipped
with white ; the sides are pale ferruginous, running into the grey of the back ; the chin
and all the under parts, as well as the legs are black, a few of the hairs being tipped
with white ; the bottoms of the feet are white : the under part of the tail, and the
parts of the body adjacent, are pale yellow ; the grey character of the back extends to
the upper part of the tail, at the commencement; the rest of the tail is dark above,
and lighter beneath, being tipped with white. The character of the fur is thick and
long. The specimen, when set up, will stand about fourteen inches high ; it is two
feet four inches in length, and the tail, which is thick and bushy, is sixteen inches
long. The colours of the coat of the Cross Foxes are said to vary considerably ; in
some the red preponderates, so much as to approach the Red Fox, and then to be
mistaken for i t ; in others so much dark fur prevails, that they resemble the Silver
Fox. Without specimens in these different states, it is impossible to arrive at
certainty on the subject, but the circumstance induces a doubt whether these three
kinds are specifically distinct.
Cants Argejntatus. Black or Silver Fox.
Captain Franklin’s specimen was obtained from a hunter, and has, consequently,
undergone the usual mutilation. The skin from the Hudson’s Bay Company is in abetter
condition, and will therefore be the one described. The animal is smaller than either
of the preceding, about two feet long, and probably of inferior stature; the tail is
fourteen inches long. The head is short, with strong black whiskers; the fore part
dark grey, having short black hairs tipped with white ; the ears are narrow and
pointed, black both within and without ; the back of the neck and shoulders quite
black, and a black line extends along the back : the rest of the back is silvery grey ;
the whole under-part and sides are black, the chin and breast darkest ; the legs are
also black ; the tail is black, with a conspicuous white tip. The fur is soft, but not
long; the tail is less bushy than that of the Foxes before described. The skins of
the Black Foxes are especially valuable, and the animals are of rare occurrence ; they
are sometimes obtained entirely black, without any silvery markings.
Cants Virginianus. Grey Fox.
This animal lives in the parts of America more to the southward than those visited
by the travellers, and was not met with alive : but its skin was seen in the hands of the
traders. This notice of it is therefore given from a skin belonging to the Hudson’s
Bay Company, by whom they are imported under the name of Blue Foxes. The animal
is about twenty-nine inches long, its tail not exceeding nine inches, in addition to
the length of the body. The fur, in colour, is nearly uniform over the whole animal,
loose and long, next the body pale lead colour, and tipped with brown ; the tail is very
thick and bushy, and differs in having a very slight rufous tinge, which is not perceptible,
on any other part of the animal. 4 P