244 



Crcas'tirn flf JMural 



should his den be under a rock or the roots 

 of trees, he is safe, for the terrier is no match 

 for him there, and he cannot be dug out. 

 When, as is generally practised, the retreat 

 to his den is cut off, his stratagems and 

 shifts to escape are various. He always seeks 

 the most woody parts of the country, and 

 prefers such paths as are most embarrassed 

 by thorns and briars : he runs in a direct 

 line before the hounds, and at no great dis- 

 tance from them ; and when overtaken, lie 

 defends himself with desperate and silent 

 obstinacy. The fetid odour of the Fox is 

 intolerable : his sight is keen ; and he pos- 

 sesses astonishing acuteness of smell. The 

 time of gestation is about sixty-three days ; 

 and while the female is suckling her young, 

 nothing can exceed her courage and bold- 

 ness. The Fox, unmolested, will live twelve 

 or fourteen years. In the first year he is 

 called a cub ; the second, a Fox ; and the 

 third, an old Fox : he is eighteen months, or 

 nearly two years old, before he arrives at full 

 maturity. The skin makes a warm and soft 

 fur, and is therefore used for muffs, linings, 

 &c. 



ARCTIC Fox. (Cam's lagopus.) This 

 species is smaller than the common Fox, 

 with a sharp nose, and short rounded ears, 

 almost hid in its fur ; the legs are short, and 

 the toes are covered both above and below 

 with a very thick soft fur : the tail is shorter 

 than that of the common Fox, but more 

 bushy. It inhabits the countries bordering 

 on the Frozen Ocean in both continents. 

 At the approach of winter their coat of hair 

 becomes thick and ragged ; till at length it 

 grows perfectly white, changing colour last 

 oil the ridge of the back and tip of the tail. 



ARCTIC FOX. (CANTS [VOLPES] I.AOOPDS.) 



This species preys upon various small quad- 

 rupeds, such as hares, marmots, &c., as well 

 as upon all kinds of water-fowl and their 

 eggs ; also, when necessity urges, on the 

 carcasses of fish left on shore, shell-fish, or 

 whatsoever the sea throws up. Mr. Pennant 

 says, that in Spitzbergen and Greenland, 

 where the ground is eternally frozen, they 

 live in the clefts of rocks, two or th/ee in- 

 habiting the same hole. They swim well, 

 and often cross from island to island in 

 search of prey. They are tame and inoffen- 

 sive animals ; and are killed for the sake of 

 their skins, both in Asia and Hudson's Bay: 



but though the fur is light and warm, it is i 

 not durable. The Greenlanders take them | 

 cither in pitfalls dug in the snow, and baited 

 Ti fish ; or in springs made with whale- 

 bone laid over a hole made in the snow, 

 strewed over at bottom with fish ; or in traps 

 similarly baited. The arctic travellers and 

 voyagers, Dr. Sir John Richardson, Captains 

 Tarry, Franklin, Ross, Lyon, Back, and 

 Simpson, refer much in their narratives to 

 this inhabitant of snow-covered countries ; 

 and those familiar with their writings can- 

 not but sympathize with their regard for 

 the limited number of animals and plants 

 hich they met with in these dreary wastes. 

 One of the most active, and certainly one i 

 of the prettiest, was the White Arctic Fox ! 

 described above. f "' 



ANTARCTIC Fox. (Cam's Antarcticus.) 

 This species is found in the Falkland Isles, 

 near the extremity of South America, and is 

 about one-third larger than the Arctic Fox ; 

 has much the appearance of the wolf in its 

 ears, tail, and the strength of its limbs ; 

 whence the French call it Loup-renard, or 

 the Wolf-fox. The head and body are of a 

 cinereous brown hue, the hair being more 

 woolly than that of the common Fox ; 

 the legs are dashed with rust-colour ; the 

 tail dusky, more bushy, and shorter than 

 that of the common Fox, and tipped with 

 white. It resides near the shores, kennels 

 like the rest of its kind, and forms regular 

 paths from one bay to another, probably for 

 the convenience of surprising water- fowl, on 

 which it principally subsists. It is a tame, 

 fetid animal, and barks like a dog. 



BLACK or SILVERY Fox. (Canis anjen- 

 tatus.) This species inhabits the northern 

 parts of Asia, Europe, and America, and is 

 only distinguishable from the common Fox 



ERY FOX. (CAN 



EUJi NTiTOS.) 



by its copious and beautiful fur, which, parti- 

 cularly in the Asiatic, one, is of a rich and 

 shining black or deep brown colour, with the 

 longer or exterior hairs of a silvery white, 

 giving a highly elegant appearance to the 

 animal, and rendering its fur more valuable 

 than that of almost any other quadruped. 



RED Fox. (Canis fulvus.) This species 

 is found throughout North America ; its 

 general colour is bright ferruginous on the 

 head, back, and sides : beneath the chin it is 

 white, whilst the throat and neck are of a , 

 dark grey : the under parts of the body i 

 towards the tail are a very pale red. The 

 skins arc much sought for, and employed in 

 various manufactures. 



