The Living Animals of the World, Volume I: Mammals

of the World 96 The Living Animals

wild dog in "West Central Siberia. These dogs killed nearly all the deer in the large forests near Omsk some years ago. Across the Himalaya there are several species, one of them as far east as Burma; but the most famous are the RED DOGS OF THE DECCAN. They frequent both the jungles and the hills; but their favourite haunt is the uplands of the Indian Ghats. They are larger than a jackal, much stronger, and hunt in packs. They have only ten teeth on each side, instead of eleven, as

Photo ly A. S. Rudland & Sons. in the other dogs and foxes. There CAPE HUNTING-DOG. is no doubt that these fierce hunting- This animal hunts in packs. It is very active and most destructive to large game of many kinds. dogs actually take prey from the tiger's jaws, and probably attack the tiger itself. They will beset a tiger at any time, and the latter seems to have learnt from them an instinctive fear of dogs. Not so the. leopard, which, being able to climb, has nothing to fear even from the "dhole." A coffee-planter, inspecting his grounds, heard a curious noise in the forest bordering his estate. On going round the corner of a thick bush, he almost trod on the tail of a tiger standing with his back towards him. He silently retreated, but as he did so he saw that there was a pack of wild dogs a few paces in front of the tiger, yelping at him, and making the peculiar noise which had previously attracted his attention. Having procured a rifle, he returned with some of his men to the spot. The tiger was gone, but they disturbed a large pack of wild dogs feeding on the body of a stag. This, on examination, proved to have been killed by the tiger, for there were the marks of the teeth in its neck. The dogs it. The dread of the tiger forhad clearly driven the tiger from his prey and appropriated these wild dogs was discovered by the sportsmen of the Nilgiri Hills, and put to a good use. They used to collect scratch packs and hunt up tigers in the woods. The tiger, thinking they were the dreaded wild pack, would either leave altogether or scramble into a tree. As tigers never do this ordinarily, it shows how wild dogs get on their nerves.

Several South American wild dogs and foxes are included in the series with the wolves and jackals. Among these are AZARA'S DOG and the RACCOON-DOG. These are commonly called foxes, though they have wolf-like skulls.

THE DINGO.

The only non-marsupial animal of Australia when the continent was discovered was the WILD DOG, or DINGO. Its origin is not known; but as soon as the settlers' flocks and herds began to increase its ravages were most serious, though doubtless some of the havoc with which it was accredited was due in a great measure to runaways from domestication. Anyhow, in the dingo the settlers found the most formidable enemy with which they had to contend, and vigorous measures were taken to reduce their numbers and minimise their ravages, so that by now they are nearly exterminated in Van Diemen's Land and rare on the mainland of Australia. It is a fine, bold dog, of considerable size, generally long-coated, of a light tan colour, and with pricked-up ears. It is easily tamed, and some of those kept in this country have made affectionate pets. Puppies are regularly bred and sold at the Zoological Gardens. The is soft, and the tail bushy.animal has an elongated, flat head which is carried high; the fur In% the wild state it is very muscular and fierce.

Photo by OttoiiHir Anxchutz, Berlin.

HIMALAYAN BLACK BEAR.

This photograph shows the most active climber of the two Himalayan bears.

UNIV. OF

CALIFORNIA

The Dog Family 97

THE FOXES.

Foxes form a very well-marked group. They have very pointed muzzles, strong though slightly built bodies, very fine thick fur, often beautifully coloured and very valuable, bushy tails, pricked-up ears, and eyes with pupils which contract by day into a mere slit. They are quite distinct from dogs (although wolves are not), and will not interbreed, though stories are told to the contrary. The smell of a fox is disgusting to a dog, and quite sufficient to distinguish it.

If the present writer takes a simpler view of the kinds and species of foxes than that adopted by many naturalists, he must plead to a study of the subject on slightly different lines than those usually followed. The skins of all foxes are valuable, some more than others. But they are sent in hundreds of thousands, and from all parts of the northern hemisphere, to London to the great fur-sales. There these differences can be studied as they can be studied nowhere else. As the habits and structure of foxes are much alike, allowing for differences of climate, and the discrepancies in size, not more than can be accounted for by abundance or scarcity of food, it seems pretty certain that these animals are some of the few, almost alone among mammals, showing almost every variety of colouring, from black to white, from splendid chameleon-red to salmon-pink, and many exquisite shades of brown, grey, and silver. At the Hudson Bay Company’s sales you may see them all, and trace the differences and gradations over whole continents. The most important are those of North America. There the RED CANADIAN FOX, of a ruddier hue than brown, shades off into the yellow and grey CROSS FOX of farther north. But of these there are many varieties. Then farther north still comes an area where red foxes, cross foxes, and black foxes are found. The black fox, when the fur is slightly sprinkled with white, is the famous SILVER FOX. This and the black fox are also found in North Siberia and Manchuria. Farthest north we find the little stunted ARCTIC FOXES. In the Caucasus and Central Asia large yellowish-red foxes live, and in Japan and China a very bright red

variety. A small grey fox lives in Virginia, and is hunted with hounds descended from packs 13

Photo by C. Reid] [Wishaw, N.B.

FOX CUBS.

Fox cubs are born from March 25 till three weeks later, the time when young rabbits, their best food, are most numerous.

taken out before the American Revolution. India has its small DESERT-FOXES (“the little foxes that eat the grapes ”) and the BENGAL FOX.

The value of the foxes as fur-bearing animals is immense. Only white, blue, and black skins seem to be appreciated in England. The black fox has been known to fetch 150 guineas a skin. But in the East, from Asia Minor to China, red, grey, and yellow fox-skins are the lining of every rich man’s winter wraps. Splendid mixed robes are made by the Chinese by in-serting portions of cross fox-skins into coats of cut sable, giving the idea that it is the fur of a new animal.

The COMMON FOX, the foundation or type of all the above, is the best-known carnivorous animal in this country. Abroad its habits do not greatly differ, except that, not being hunted much with hounds, it is less completely nocturnal. It drops its young in an earth early in April. Thither the vixen carries food till late in June, when the cubs come out, and often move to a wood or a corn-field. There they are still fed, but learn to do a little on their own account by catching mice and moles. By late September the hounds come cub-hunting, partly to kill off superfluous foxes, partly to educate the young hounds, and to teach the foxes to fear them and to make them leave cover easily. Four or five cubs in a litter are commonly seen. The distance which a fox will run is extraordinary. The following is a true account of one of the most remarkable runs ever known. The hounds were those of Mr. Tom Smith, master of the Hambledon Hunt. He was the man of whom another famous sportsman said that if he were a fox he should prefer to be hunted by a pack of hounds rather than by Tom Smith with a stick in his hand. The fox was found in a cover called Markwells, at one o’clock in the afternoon in December, near Petersfield. It crossed into Sussex, and ran into an earth in Grafham Hill a little before dark. The fox had gone twenty-seven miles. The hounds had forty miles to go back to kennel that night, and three only

found their way home four days afterwards. Dog-foxes assemble in considerable numbers when a vixen is about in spring, and at all times common foxes are sociable creatures, though not actually living in societies. Sometimes as many as five or six are found in a single earth. Two years ago five foxes and a badger were found in one near Romford. They eat mice, beetles, rats, birds, game, poultry, and frogs. Their favourite food is rabbits. If there are plenty of these, they will not touch other game. They hunt along the railway-lines for dead birds killed by the telegraph-wires. In the New Forest they also go down to the shore and pick up dead fish. One in the writer’s possession was

Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.] [Aberdeen. MOUNTAIN-FOX. In hilly countries the fox becomes a powerful and destructive animal, killing not only game but lambs.

Photo by C. Reid] [Wishaw, N.B.

LEICESTERSHIRE FOX.

Leicestershire is the best fox-hunting county in England. The foxes are famous for their speed and endurance.

Photo by Ottomar Anschiitz) (Berlin. TOO DIFFICULT! Foxes can easily climb trees with small projecting branches, One was found 37 feet upa tree in Savernake Forest; but a branchless stump such as that here shown no fox could climb. 99

Photos ly Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green.

ARCTIC FOX.

In summer. Changing his coat. In winter. The Arctic Fox is one of the few animals showing different phases of colour, some being blue at all seasons, while others are white in winter and mottled brownish in summer.

cliffs of Sidmouth, in Devon. shot when carrying away a lamb from a sheepfold near the The shepherd thought it was a marauding dog, and lay in wait with a gun.

THE ARCTIC Fox. The ARCTIC Fox is somewhat different in habits from others. It is also much smaller than the red foxes. Its fur is almost as soft as eiderdown, and so thick that the cold does not penetrate. In winter the whole coat changes colour, not gradually, but in patches. At is shedthe same time a dense growth of under-fur comes up on the body. In summer this it for in patches, almost like loose felt. The foxes live in colonies, but are so hard put to food in the winter that they desert their homes to gather round whaling-ships or encampments. There they steal everything edible, from snowshoe-thongs to seal-flesh. Blue foxes are bred and kept for the sake of their fur on some of the islands in Bering Sea. They are fed on the flesh of the seals killed on the neighbouring islands, and are, like them, killed when their coat is in condition.