One of the smallest of the foxes is the kit fox (_Vulpes velox_),
sometimes called the swift fox and also the burrowing fox, getting
the latter name for the ability and rapidity with which it digs the
holes in the ground in which it lives. It is an inhabitant of the
northwestern states and of the western Canadian provinces, covering the
region from southeastern Nebraska northwest to British Columbia. Its
length is about twenty inches, exclusive of the tail, which is about
twelve inches long. The overhair is fine, the back is a pure gray, the
sides yellow, and the under parts white. The ears are small and covered
with hair and the soles are also hairy. The kit fox is much smaller in
size than either the gray or red fox, but has proportionately longer
limbs than either of them.
Reynard, of all animals, in spite of the fact that he is accepted as
the emblem of cunning, slyness, deceit, and mischief, is praised by
proverb and tradition, and the greatest of German poets, Goethe, made
him the subject of an epic. Pechuel-Loesche says:
"The fox of tradition and poetry and the fox in real life are really
two very different animals. Whoever observes him with an unprejudiced
mind fails to discover any extraordinary degree of that much-praised
presence of mind, cleverness, cunning, and practical sense, or even an
unusually keen development of the senses. In my opinion he is by no
means superior in his endowments to other beasts of prey, especially
the wolf. The most that can be truly said in his praise is to admit
that, when he is pursued, he knows how to adapt himself to the
surrounding circumstances, but scarcely more so than other sagacious
animals. Like many other animals, including the harmless species, some
old foxes may have their wits unusually sharpened by experience, but
every huntsman who has had much to do with foxes will admit that there
are a great many which are not ingenious, and some which may even be
called stupid, and this refers not only to young, inexperienced foxes,
but also to many old ones. The fox is a rascal and knows his trade,
because he has to make a living somehow. He is impudent, but only when
driven by hunger or when he has to provide for his little family; and
in bad plights he shows neither presence of mind nor deliberation, but
loses his head completely. He is caught in clumsy traps, and this even
repeatedly. In the open country he allows a sled to approach him within
gunshot; he permits himself to be surrounded in a hunt in spite of the
noise and shots, instead of wisely taking to his heels; in short, this
animal, which is more relentlessly pursued than any other inhabitant of
the woods, still has not learned to see through all the tricks of men
and shape his actions accordingly."
All of which may be literally true, nevertheless Reynard is the hero of
a hundred stories and pictures and he will continue to be regarded as a
remarkably clever and interesting animal.
The coat of the fox corresponds closely to his surroundings. Those
species living on plains and deserts show the similarity of their color
with that of the ground; the southern fox differs considerably from the
northern and the fox of the mountains from that of the plains.
The fox usually selects his home in deep hollows, between rocks covered
with branches, or between roots of trees. Whenever he can avoid doing
so he does not dig a burrow himself, but establishes himself in some
old, deserted badger's hole, or shares it with the badger in spite
of the latter's objections. If it is possible, the fox excavates
his burrows in mountain walls, so that the conduits lead upwards,
without running close to the surface. In his prowlings he regards his
security as paramount to every other consideration, according to
fox hunters. He is suspicious, and only the pangs of hunger can goad
him into reckless actions. Then he becomes bold. Once a fox, which
was being hunted by hounds and had twice heard the shot whizzing by,
seized a sick hare in his flight and carried it with him a considerable
distance. Another was surrounded in a field; he came out, attacked a
wounded hare, killed it before the eyes of the huntsmen, rapidly buried
it in the snow, and then fled directly through the line formed by the
sportsmen.
Litters of young foxes are born about the end of April or the beginning
of May. Their number varies between three and twelve.
Lenz had a tame female fox which he received just as she was beginning
to eat solid food, but had already become so vicious and so much
addicted to biting that she always growled when eating her favorite
food and bit right and left into straw and wood, even when nobody was
disturbing her. Kind treatment soon made her so tame that she would
allow him to take a freshly-killed rabbit out of her bloody mouth and
insert his fingers instead. Even when grown up she liked to play with
him, was demonstrative in her joy when he visited her, wagged her
tail, whined, and jumped around. She was just as much pleased to see a
stranger, and she distinguished strangers at a distance of fifty paces,
when they were turning the corner of the house, and with loud cries
would invite them to come up to her, an honor which she never accorded
either to him or his brother, who usually fed her, probably because she
knew they would do so anyway.
Reynard has been known to attack and kill young calves and lambs, and
if the seashore is near will revel in oysters and shellfish. A group
of rabbits are feeding in a clover-patch. He'll crawl along, nibbling
the juicy flowers until near enough to make a grab. He'll stalk a bird,
with his hind legs dragging behind him, until near enough to spring.
How farmers dread his inroads in the poultry yard! Fasten the yard up
tight and he will burrow a winding passage into the ground beneath
and suddenly appear among the drowsy chickens and stupid geese, whose
shrill and alarmed cries arouse the farmer from his bed to sally forth,
finding all safe. Then the fox will sneak back and pack away with the
plumpest pullet or the fattest goose.