This animal averages about one-third smaller than the gray wolf, and while the finest male specimens are, in the autumn, really handsome animals, at other times the majority are of very ordinary appearance. At no time, however, even in the dark, is a Coyote a courageous animal. So far as man is concerned, a band of a thousand coyotes would be as easily put to flight as one; but in hanging upon the ragged edges of civilization, and living by its wits, the Coyote is audacity itself. By inheritance, and also by personal experience, this animal knows to a rod how far it is safe to trust a man with a gun. If the hunter has left his gun behind him, the Coyote knows it at once, and boldly flaunts himself within stone’s throw of his enemy.
The Coyote varies in color quite markedly, exhibiting the gray, brown and black phases. Formerly it was supposed that one species comprehended all, but Dr. Merriam’s series of specimens from all parts of the West and Southwest have led him to separate these animals into eleven species.
THE FOX DENS, No. 23.
Of the many species of foxes found in North America, three species stand forth as the types of prominent groups, and it is very desirable that all three should be well known.
The Red Fox, (Vulpes fulvus), is the representative of the group which contains also the cross fox and black fox of the Northwest. In spite of dogs, traps, guns, spades and poison, this cunning creature persists in living in close touch with the poultry yards of civilized man. His perfect familiarity with old-fashioned dangers enables him to avoid them all, and no sooner does a new danger menace him than he promptly invents a way to escape it. The manner in which the Red Fox lives with civilization without being exterminated really is surprising, and speaks volumes for the astuteness of this animal.
The geographical range of the Red Fox is very wide, From North Carolina and Tennessee it extends northward through the whole northeastern United States, gradually bearing westward to Montana, and northward almost to the Arctic Ocean. It is the commonest species in Alaska, where it is found practically everywhere.
The typical Red Fox and its two subspecies, the Cross Fox, (Vulpes fulvus decussatus), and the Black Fox, (V. f. argentatus)—the latter many times miscalled the “Silver Fox”—vary in all possible gradations of color from bright red to pure black. Often it is difficult to decide where one type leaves off and another begins. The Cross Fox stands midway between the Red and Black, with some of the yellow color of the former on the sides of the neck and behind the foreleg, while the remainder of the general color is grizzled gray-brown laid across his shoulders in a more or less distinct cross. The Black Fox varies in color from very dark iron-gray to dark brown or black, with a slight wash of white-tipped hairs over the head, body and tail. The tip of the tail is always white, which is the only constant color mark about him.
The Swift, or Kit Fox, (Vulpes velox), is the daintiest, smallest and liveliest of all American foxes. From his delicate little nose to the tip of his well-trimmed tail, he is every inch a thoroughbred. His countenance is bright and pert, and when several specimens are kept together they are very playful. One striking feature of this little animal is what may well be termed its trimness. When in fair condition, its coat of thick, silvery gray fur is as smooth and even as if recently trimmed by a barber.
SWIFT OR KIT FOX.