The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1914-05-14
Breeding OF Foxes and SkUnks
for Their PeItS.
Young Industry to Be of Great Prac-
teal Importance and Promises to
Give Results of Interest to Phil
osorhicaI NaturaIists.

The young industry of fur farming
is not only likely to be of great prac-
teal Importance, but, like all other
practically conducted geological pur-
suits, is promising to give results OF
interest to the philosophical natural
lists. 1t SO happens, for instance, says
the London Standard, that the Two
favorite animals with the fur farmer
the fox and the skunk present strlk-
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 a
color variety of the red fox, and no
doubt it is to the natural desire to IN
crease the numbers Of this valued
freak" that the initiation of fox farm
ing is due. Experiment has proved
that silver foxes, like other varieties
of color in more familiar animals, are
amenable to selective breeding; as
rule, pair of silvers will produce sill
YER young, though some reversion TO
the ancestral red coat must be always
looked for, at any rate during the first
few generations of breeding.
But it is not necessary to start with
a pair of silvers to produce silver on
springs: one breeder raised from
silver male and red vixen litter or
five pups, two only of which were red.
one silver and two "cross," a term
which will be explained directly. me
silver animal was bred to another
unrelated-silver and produced two
cross" pups and one of it's own color.
This last silver became the parent OF
seven pups, all of them silvers. me
cross" fox, which is evidently the in
termediate form between the typical
red and the valued silver and black
types, is particolored animal, RED
on the body and black on the face,
limbs and part of the brush. 1t is
thus the exact opposite of a black
and tan dog, since in such an animal
as the most casual observer knows,
the black is found on the trunk and
the tan on the face and limbs.
1t seems curious that two animals
so nearly related as the fox and the
dog should vary in such different d.
rections; but the fact is not unprece-
dented, very similar case being
found in two we'll known birds which
are similarly related. These are the
pheasant and the guinea fowl, birds OF
the same family, and liable to pro-
duce pied varieties; but in pied
pheasant it will be noted that the
white feathers are mostly confined to
the upper parts, while in a pied guinea
fowl it is the under parts that are
white.
Cases like this should make us eau
tious in attributing special significance
to the appearance of white on the
upper parts of certain wild animals,
abnormal though it may seem. Thus,
the skunk for the most part a black
animal, shows white on the upper
parts, as a rule, and this is supposed
to act as a warning to other animals
to beware Of the essence peddler.
But this white is variable in extent,
and one of the objects of the skunk
farmer Is to get rid of 1t as much as
possible, skunk skins being graded, 9TH
er things being equal, on their black
ness. 1t Is found that by using black
males and females with only a small
amount of white, from thirty to sew
anty-five per cent of the produce Will
come black. or first quality, though,
of course, certain amount of rever-
sion must be reckoned with.
The fact that owls have to be
guarded against as serious enemies
bv the skunk raiser shows that the
white streak on the skunk's head and
back is probably purely incidental,
and has no warning significance. 1t
may proclaim to the puma and lynx
the wolf and fox, that the skunk is an
animal better left alone, but this does
not do the malodorous little beast
much good if his snowy badge only
gives him away to his far more for
midable feathered foe, which, hunt
ing on silent wing above, has him at
such a deadly disadvantage, besides
being less sensitive to stinKs than are
the mammalian carnivores. Familiar
as we are with the depredations OF
cats. weasels and foxes on birds, we
are apt to forget that the birds OF
prey "get their own back" with in
terest. and all theories of coloration
and its uses must take into account
this fact: the skunk would probably
be better off if he were protected
rather than advertised by his coat, and
his snowy pied livery is quite posi-
bly, rather a disadvantage than other
wise