ARCTIC HARES. 319 



cold, or too barren, to keep this little creature going; 

 and he relates an amusing story about one of them, 

 thus met with while they were travelling over the ice, and 

 which the mirage, occasioned by fog, caused the party 

 to mistake for a musk ox a slight error, affording a 

 good illustration of the difficulty there is in recognizing 

 objects distorted by mirage and seen through these fogs. 



" We saw an animal (he says), apparently at some distance, 

 bounding along the horizon. All along the line there were cries 

 of ' musk ox' guns were snatched from the sleighs, and even 

 the dogs charged at full gallop, in pursuit; but after a rush 

 of ten yards, the object suddenly disappeared a man had 

 put his foot on it, and it turned out to be one of the small 

 mice, so common in the barren grounds. What it was doing 

 out on the lake, at this time of year, instead of lying comfort- 

 ably curled up under ground, I cannot say." * 



The arctic hare (Lcpiis Glacialis] is another example 

 of a much larger animal, which undoubtedly passes the 

 winter in the most northern regions, as yet visited 

 by man. Its tracks, and even the hare itself has been 

 seen by explorers everywhere, but unfortunately not in 

 sufficient numbers, to prove anything more than an 

 occasional delicacy to hungry travellers. It is an 

 animal, perfectly white in winter, fully as large as an 

 English hare, which will at a pinch provide a meal for a 

 small party. Partially white hares are now common in 

 the London game dealers' shops, in spring time, were they 

 may often be seen hanging in considerable numbers. 

 This sub-arctic variety of the polar hare, as we have 

 been informed, is mostly imported from Russia. 



Sir George Nares found them inhabiting the most 

 northern land yet visited, where they attained the 



* The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada, by W^arburton Pike, 

 1892, pp. 88, 89. 



