A Swift Fox, Vulpes Velox Velox (Say), from Western Kansas

Abstract

The swift (or kit) fox, Vulpes velox velox (Say), has been reported extinct in Kansas (Cockrum, 1952:234). Although one specimen in the collection of the Natural History Museum of the University of Kansas was supposedly captured in 1900 in Douglas County (op. cit.:235), other authors reported that the extinction of the species in Kansas occurred at least ten years earlier (Baker, 1889:57; Bunker, 1940:35-36). Before 1890, the swift fox was common in the western half of the state (Mead, 1899:280; Allen, 1874:45). In January, 1955, the museum at Fort Hays Kansas State College recevied an adult male swift fox (Fig. 1). It had been shot by Howard