Audubon's Mammals/MAMMALS1_3.BIN/dp/0003/00031.txt

Text File | 1992-08-25 | 30KB | 456 lines

$Unique_ID{QAD00031}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Gray Fox}
$Subject{Gray Fox; Vulpes; Virginianus}
$Journal{Quadrupeds of North America:  Volume I}
$Volume{Vol. 3:162-172}
$Genus{Vulpes}
$Species{Virginianus}
$Common_Name{Gray Fox}
$Log{
Plate XXI*00031P1.scf
Genus*00011.txt}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       A U D U B O N ' S   M A M M A L S

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. S., &c. &c.

                                      AND

                     The Rev. John Bachman, D. D., &c. &c.

                  -------------------------------------------
                                    VOL.  I.
                        --------------------------------


                         VULPES VIRGINIANUS.--Schreber.
                           [Urocyon cinereoargenteus]

                                   GRAY FOX.


                               PLATE XXI.--MALE.


     V. griseo nigroque variegatus, lateribus et partibus colli lateralibus
fulvis, genis nigris.


                                  CHARACTERS.

     Gray, varied with black, sides of neck and flank, fulvous; black on the
sides of the face between the eye and nose.


                                   SYNONYMES.


     FOX OF CAROLINA, Lawson, Car., p. 125.
     GRAY FOX, Catesby, Car., vol. ii., p. 78, fig. C.
     GRAY FOX, Pennant, Synop., p. 157, 114.
     CANIS VIRGINIANUS, Schreber, Saugethiere, p. 361, 10 to 92 B, 1775.
     CANIS VIRGINIANUS, Erxleben, Syst., p. 567, 10, 1777.
     CANIS VIRGINIANUS, Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. Gmel., vol. i., p. 74, 16, 1788.
     CANIS CINEREO-ARGENTEUS, Erxleben, Syst., p. 576, 9.
     CANIS CINEREO-ARGENTATUS, Say, Long's Expedition, vol. ii., p. 340.
     CANIS VIRGINIANUS, Desm., Mamm., p. 204.
     CANIS CINEREO-ARGENTATUS, Godman, Nat. Hist., vol. i., p. 280, fig. 2
     CANIS (VULPES) VIRGINIANUS, Rich., F. Boreali A., p. 96.
     VULPES VIRGINIANUS, Dekay, Nat. Hist. of New-York, p. 45.


                                  DESCRIPTION.

     Head, considerably broader and shorter than that of the red fox, (Vulpes
fulvus;) nose, also shorter, and a little more pointed; teeth, not so stout;
ears, a little longer than in the latter animal, of an oval shape, and thickly
clothed with hair on both surfaces; whiskers, half the length of the head.
Body, rather thicker and more clumsy in appearance than that of either the swift
fox, (V. velox,) or the red fox; fur, much coarser than that of the other
species.  Legs, rather long; nails, strong, slightly arched, visible beyond the
fur; soles, with five stout tubercles, not clothed with hair; tail, large,
bushy, clothed like the body with two kinds of hair; the fur, or inner hair,
being soft and woolly, the outer hairs longer and coarser.


                                    COLOUR.

     There are slight differences in the colour of different specimens; we will,
however, give a description of one which is of the colour most common to this
species in every part of the United States.  Head, brownish-gray; muzzle, black;
a broad patch of dark brown runs from the eye to the nose, on each side of the
face; whiskers, black; inner surface of ears, dull white; outer surface of ears,
sides of neck, outer surface of fore-legs and thighs, tawny; a yellowish wash
under the throat, and along the sides; chin, and around the mouth, dark-brown;
cheeks, throat, and under surface of body, dull white, occasionally tinged with
a yellowish shade; under surface of hind and fore-feet, yellowish-brown; upper
surface of feet and legs, grizzly black and white; nails, dark-brown.  The soft
inner fur on the back, which is about an inch and a half long, is for half its
length from the roots, plumbeous, and pale yellowish-white at the tips.  The
long hairs which give the general colour to the body above, are white at their
roots, then for more than a third of their length black, then white, and are
broadly tipped with black, giving the animal a hoary or silver-gray appearance.
It is darkest on the shoulder, along the back and posterior parts.  The fur on
the tail has a little more fulvous tinge than that of the back; the longer hairs
are much more broadly tipped with black.  When the fur lies smooth, there is a
black line along the upper surface of the tail from the root to the extremity;
end of brush, black.  Some specimens are a little lighter coloured, having a
silver-gray appearance.  Specimens from the State of New-York are rather more
fulvous on the neck, and darker on the back, than those of Carolina.  In some
specimens there is a dark spot on the sides of the throat about an inch from the
ear.
     We possessed for many years a beautiful specimen of a variety of the Gray
Fox, which was barred on the tail like the racoon, and had a dark cross on the
back like that of Canis crucigera of GESNER, which latter is regarded by Baron
CUVIER as a mere variety of the European fox.


                                   DIMENSIONS.

                                                             Inches.

     Length of head and body  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 28
     Length of tail (vertebrae)  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 12 1/2
     Length of tail to end of hair  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 14
     Height of ear.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  2 1/2
     From heel to end of nail .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  5


                                    HABITS.

     Throughout the whole of our Atlantic States, from Maine to Florida, and
westwardly to Louisiana and Texas, there are but two species of fox known, viz.,
the red fox, (V. fulvus,) and the present species, (V. Virginianus,) although
there are several permanent varieties.  The former may be regarded as a
Northern, the latter as a Southern species.  Whilst the Northern farmer looks
upon the red fox as a great annoyance, and detests him as a robber who is lying
in wait for his lambs, his turkeys, and his geese, the Gray Fox, in the eyes of
the Southern planter, is the object of equal aversion.  To ourselves, however,
who have witnessed the predatory dispositions of each in different portions of
our country, it appears that the red fox is far more to be dreaded than the
gray; the latter is a pilfering thief, the former a more daring and cunning
plunderer.  When they have whelps, the females of both species, urged by the
powerful pleadings of their young become more bold and destructive than at any
other time; the red fox produces its young very early in the season, sometimes
indeed whilst the snow is still remaining here and there in large banks unthawed
on the ground, and becomes more daring in consequence of being stinted for food;
whilst the present species, having its young later when breeding in the Northern
States, and finding a more abundant supply of food when inhabiting the Middle or
Southern States, is less urged by necessity to depredate on the poultry of the
planter.
     We have never, indeed, heard any well authenticated account of this species
having entered the poultry-yard of the farmer; it is true, it will seize on a
goose, or a turkey hen, that happens to stray into the woods or fields and make
its nest at some distance from the house; but we have not heard of its having
attempted to kill pigs, or like the red fox, visited the sheep pasture in
spring, and laid a contribution, from day to day, on the young lambs of the
flock.
     The Gray Fox is shy and cowardly, and the snap of a stick or the barking of
a dog will set him off on a full run.  Although timid and suspicious to this
degree, his cunning and voracity place him in a conspicuous rank among the
animals that prey upon other species weaker than themselves.  The wild turkey
hen often makes an excavation in which she deposits her eggs, at a considerable
distance from the low grounds, or makes her nest on some elevated ridge, or
under a pile of fallen logs covered over with scrub oaks, ferns, tall weeds and
grasses; we have often seen traces of a violent struggle at s