NO.1405. MAMMALS OF NORTHWEST TERRITORIES— MACFARLANE. 705 



Even northern sections of tbe country hunted by Indians belonging- to 

 some of the company's trade posts of Cumberland and English River 

 districts have, at times, succeeded in trapping a ftnv examples. In 

 1876, Cumberland House had 5; in 1873, Moose Lake secured 3; in 

 1885, the Pas had 2 and Pelican Narrows 16; in 1886, Rapid River 

 caught 2, and Lac du Brochrt post traded 785 skins, nearly all from 

 its northern inland Eskimos; in the winter of 1890, Portage I^a Loche 

 secured an example. A few white foxes have also been trapped on 

 the south shore of Creat Slave Lake, but at Fort Resolution the 

 natives of Fond du Lac and the northeastern tract, who resort thereto, 

 seldom fail to bring in some skins every season. The catch there from 

 1862 to and including outfit 1877 averaged 42 a year. Fort Rae, at the 

 northern end of the same great inland sea, also turns out a few skins 

 most 3^ears. In 1877, it had only two examples, but the average 

 for 1880 to 1882 was 23 for the three outfits. Many years ago an 

 individual of the species was shot a considerable distance up the Peace 

 River. Sir John Richardson states that early in the nineteenth cen- 

 tury two white foxes were seen near Charlton House, on the Saskatche- 

 wan River. 



We hardly ever saw a live white fox on our many summer and 

 winter trips in the arctic regions of Canada. Neither have 1 observed 

 among several thousand prime winter skins of this animal one that 

 was not almost if not wholly pure white, while the blue variety always 

 appeared distinct in color. McClintock, Avho had many opportunities 

 for observation, writes that both white and blue foxes are found in 

 all arctic lands, and that they are beautiful animals, full of tricks and 

 impudence. In September, 1853, he "captured a litter of three cubs 

 of a dark grayish color — fierce little fellows with most restless eyes 

 and pliant weasel-shaped bodies. Not unfrequently foxes would ven- 

 ture on l)oard the arctic ships in winter and be caught even in traps 

 set for them on deck. When irritated the}" gave a short, suppressed 

 )>ark, and they sometimes uttered a strange cry resembling that of a 

 hawk, goose, or gull." At Port Kennedy, where he passed the winter 

 of 1858-59, McClintock secured two polar bears, nineteen white foxes, 

 nine hares, eight reindeer, and eighteen seals; several ermines and 

 lemmings were also caught. Sir J. Clark Ross, who passed several 

 years in Victoria Harbor, Boothia, latitude 70^^ north and longitude 

 91^ west, states that the foxes breed there early in June, and have 

 from six to eight young at a birth. On one occasion, several weeks 

 later in the season, he captured six little ones in a sand burrow close 

 to the ship's wintering position. White foxes were numerous in that 

 (juarter, and upward of fifty were trapped. Sir George Nares 

 observed a "mottled" fox in latitude 82° north. Doctor Armstrong 

 also refers to the presence of H hujopuK at ^lercy Hay and Prince of 



