Habitat, Chiloe. (December.)
“I killed this animal on the sea-beach, at the southern point of the island; it is considered extremely rare in the northern and inhabited districts. Molina mentions this fox, which he falsely considered as the C. lagopus, under the name of the Payne Gurú, and he adds, that in the Archipelago of Chiloe, it is found of a black colour. From this circumstance I am induced to believe that the species is confined to these islands.”—D.
4. Canis Azaræ.
Plate VII.
Canis Azaræ, Pr. Maximilian, Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte Braziliens, vol. ii. p. 338.
Agouarachay, Azara, Essais sur l’histoire naturelle des Quadrupèdes de la Province du Paraguay, tom. i. p. 317.
C. suprà albo nigroque variegatus; lateribus cinerescentibus; capite, auribus externè, artubusque, cinereo-cinnamominis; mento nigro; tibiis externis ad basin nigro lavatis; caudâ albescente, suprà nigro variegatâ, ad apicem nigrâ; spatio pone angulos oris, gutture, corporeque subtùs albescentibus; fasciis duabus griscescentibus in pectore plus minusve distinctis.
Description.—Compared with the common fox (Canis Vulpes, Auct.), the present animal is rather smaller, and of a more slender form. Its limbs are a little longer in proportion; the ears are not so broad. The tail is not quite so bushy, neither is it so long; the fur is much longer, and of a harsher nature.
The predominant colours of the body are black and white; the limbs are of a fulvous hue externally. The hairs on the under part of the feet are dirty brown; the fore part of the anterior legs, and the feet, are of a buff colour; on the former, the hairs are more or less distinctly tipped with black, which produces a grizzled appearance. The inner side of the fore legs is of an uniform pale buff colour; the hinder part of these legs, the fore part of the posterior legs, and the inner side of the thighs, are white. On the outer side of the hinder legs, at some little distance above the heel, is a large blackish patch. The under parts of the body are of a dirty white hue, arising from the hairs being dusky or brownish at the base, and tipped with white, as on the fore part of the belly, or of a pale buff colour at the base, as towards the rump. The edge of the upper lip, the throat, neck, and chest, are white; a broad grayish band extends across the latter, and another of a paler hue crosses the lower part of the neck. The chin is black, and this colour is extended backwards around the angle of the mouth. The upper part of the head is of a pale yellow-brown colour, each hair being annulated with white near the apex. The ears are furnished with white hairs internally, and externally they are of a yellowish brown colour, tipped with black; at the base of the ears, and the portion of the neck on each side nearest to them, the hairs are of an uniform buff colour. The hairs of the moustaches are long and stiff, and of a black colour. The hairs of the back, which are very long, are brown at the base, very pale towards the skin, and of a deep brown in the opposite direction; each hair is then white, and at the apex black. The tail is whitish, mottled with black; the apical portion is black, and there is a patch of the same colour towards the base on the upper side.
| In. | Lines. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | from nose to root of tail | 27 | 6 |
| to base of ear | 5 | 9 | |
| of tail (hair included) | 14 | 6 | |
| of ear | 3 | 2 | |
| Height | of body at the shoulders | 14 | 0 |
Habitat, La Plata, Patagonia, and Chile.