Fur-Bearing Animals. 



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believe that nearly all varying birds and animals vary in the colour 

 of their feathers and fur without changing them. This is known to 

 be true of the ermine, and I believe it is true of the hare. I have 

 met with reliable parties in the north who say that, there, hares change 

 their colour somewhat three or four times in the course of as many 

 months. If there be two or three weeks of rainy weather they 

 become grey, and if it becomes cold and dry, with snow, whether it 

 be in August or October, they become white. Be this as it may, 

 when the rocks of the north are naked these hares are pretty much 

 of the same colour, and when covered with snow, and the whole 

 region is draped in white, they are white also ; and, squatting down 



on the snow, one cannot distinguish between their forms and the 

 general appearance of the uneven surface. 



Both the ordinary wolf and the wolverine are found in the far 

 north. The wolf in the icy regions is as ferocious as his neighbour 

 farther to the south. He is solitary and sullen, and I am told fre- 

 quently perishes from hunger on the barren rocks of that sterile 

 country. In appearance the wolf of the north differs but little 

 from those seen in these parts. Their heads are perhaps a little 

 longer, and their noses sharper. Their teeth are long and horrid 

 looking. Their ears are very sharp, and stand up stiff and straight. 

 The tail is quite long and very bushy. They are generally a 

 pale, yellowish brown, and their eyes are a bright dark green. 



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