528 ARCTIC FOX. 



the earth, and form holes many feet in length ; 

 strewing the bottom with moss. But in Spitz- 

 bergen and Greenland, where the ground is eter- 

 nally frozen, they live in the cliffs of rocks : two 

 or three inhabit the same hole. They swim well, 

 and often cross from island to island in search of 

 prey. They bark like Dogs; for which reason 

 the Russians call them PefztL They are tame 

 and inoffensive animals; and so simple, that there 

 are instances of their standing by when the trap 

 was baiting, and instantly after putting their 

 heads into it. They are killed for the sake of 

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

 fur is light and warm, but not durable : Mr. Gra- 

 ham informed me, that they have appeared in 

 such numbers about the fort, that he has taken, 

 in different ways, four hundred from Decem- 

 ber to March. He likewise assured me, that the 

 tips of their tails are always black ; those of the 

 common Foxes are always white: and that he 

 never could trace the breeding places of the for- 

 mer. " 



" The Greenlanders take them either in pit- 

 falls dug in the snow, and baited with the Capelin 

 fish, or in springs made with whalebone laid over 

 a hole made in the snow, strewed over at bottom 

 with the same kind of fish; or in traps made like 

 little huts, with flat stones, with a broad one by 

 way, of door, which falls down (by means of a 

 string baited on the inside with a piece of flesh) 

 whenever the Fox enters and pulls at it. The 

 Greenlanders preserve the skin for traffic; and, in 



