Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1914-05-02
BREEDING of Foxes and Skunks
for Their PeltS.
Young Industry to Be Of Great Prao'
teal Importance and Promises to
Give Results of Interest to Phil
osophcal katurallsts.

The young industry of fur farming
is not only likely 10 be OF great praC-
tical Importance, but like all other
practically conducted geological p"r-
suits. is promising 10 give results %
interest to the philosophical natural
lists. 1t so happens. for instance. says
the London Standard, that the i"o
favorite animals with the fur far LheF
the fox and the skunk, present str'A'
ing variations in their fur, and the Sc
lection of such variations TO produce
the most valuable type has already
furnished results Of scientific value.
The silver fox, for instance, is only
color variety OF the red fox, and no
doubt il is to the natural desire TO IN
crease the numbers of TINS Nalueu
freak" that the initiation Of fox iaI'
ing is due. Experiment has proven
that silver foxes, like other varieties
OF color in more familiar animals, are
amenable TO selective breeding, as
rule. a pair of silvers will produce sill
yer young, though some reverslon 10
the ancestral red coat must be always
looked for. at any rate during the nrs'
few generations OF breeding.
But it is not necessary TO start Win
a pair of silyers to produce silver OH
springs: one breeder raised from
silver male and red vixen litter Oh
five pups. two only of which were red'
one silver and two cross a term
which will be explained directly. ne
silver animal was bred TO another
unrelated-silver anC produced two
cross" pups and one of its own Color
This last silver became the parent Oh
seven pups. all of them sllvers. me
cross" fox. which is evidently the III
termediate form between the typlcal
red and the valued silver and black
tvnes is a particolored animal, req
on the body and black on the race
limbs and part of the brush. IL Is
thus the exact opposite of a black
and tan dog, since in such an amman
as the most casual observer knows
the black is found on the trunk ano
the tan on the face and limbs.
1t seems curious that two amman
so nearly related as the fox ana tht
dog should vary in such different oil
rections: but the fact is not unprece
dented. a very similar case being
found in two well known birds whlci
are similarly related. These are th'
pheasant and the guinea fowl, bros o
the same family, and liable to pro
duce pied varieties; but in pee
pheasant it will be noted that TN
white feathers are mostly confined u
the upper parts. while in a pied gulne'
fowl it is the under parts that ar
white.
Cases like this should make us cat
tious In attributing special signhcanc
to the appearance of white on I'll
upper parts of certain wild anlmai'
abnormal though it may seem. Thu'
the skunk, for the most part oiac
animal, shows white on the uppe
narts as a rule, and this is suppose
To act as a warning to other animal
tn beware of the essence peddler
Rut this white is variable in eXten
and one of the objects of the skun
farmer is to get rid of it as much
, nossible. skunk skins being graded, OF
or things being equal. on their blac
ness. II is found that by using blac
males and females with only sma
amount of white, from thirty 10 Sc
IL enty-five per cent of the produce WI
Re come black, or first quality, thoug
H. of course. a certain amount Of reve
sion must be reckoned with.
10 The fact that owls have to I
IL guarded against as serious eneml'
~ nv the skunk raiser shows that u
white streak on the skunks head al
back is probably purely lncideh's
>. and has no warning" significance.
-. NAV proclaim to the puma and lyr
4, the wolf and fox, that the skunk Is
a animal better left alone, but this DO
:. not do the malodorous little bea
- much good If his snowy badge on
80 gives him away to his far more ie
~ midable feathered foe. which, hui
ing on silent wing above, has him
such deadly disadvantage, besld
NJ being less sensitive to stinks than a
~ tho mammalian carnivores. Famill
70 as we are with the depredations
a. cats. weasels and foxes on birds,
Do are apt to forget that the bros
"a. prey get their own back with
terest. and all theories Of colorati
and its uses must take into accou
rk this fact: the skunk would probat
be better off II he were protect
rather than advertised by his coat
ret his snowy pied livery is quite pos
I'm bly rather a disadvantage than 9th
II wise.
en- ---
The Real Question