TWO FASHIONABLE FURS 213 



a white winter livery ; and if it is essential for these species 

 that they should assimilate their colour to that of their 

 surroundings, why is it not equally so in the case of the 

 Arctic fox ? 



Again, although, as already mentioned, blue foxes are 

 rare in Labrador, in. Alaska they are comparatively common, 

 and the same is the case in Greenland, whence the Royal 

 Greenland Company imported 1,451 skins to Copenhagen in 

 1 89 1. And if it be essential for animals to turn white in 

 winter in any country in the world, it is surely Alaska. It 

 is difficult to ascertain the proportion of blue to white foxes 

 in either Alaska or the PribilofF Islands, but it is certain 

 that in both localities the two phases are found together, 

 living apparently under precisely the same physical con- 

 ditions. 



As regards the islands last named, Mr. Elliot, in his 

 work on "The Seal Islands of Alaska," writes that "blue 

 and white foxes are found on the Pribiloff Islands, and 

 find among the countless chinks and crevices in the 

 basaltic formation comfortable holes and caverns for their 

 accommodation and retreat, feeding upon sick and pup 

 seals, as well as water-fowl and eggs, during the summer 

 and autumn, and living through the winter on dead seals 

 left on the rookeries and their carcases on the killing- 

 grounds." 



This account, then, fully establishes the fact that blue 

 and white foxes occur in regions where, according to all 

 accepted rules, there ought to be none but white in- 

 dividuals during the long and dreary winter. It gives, 

 however, no definite clue to the reason for the strange 

 association. 



There is, however, a description of the habits of Arctic 

 foxes in Grinnell Land given by Colonel Fielden, in his 



