THE ATICTIC FOX. 77 



Varioxis appearances in different months. 



after my arrival, I knocked down with a club, 

 within the space of three hours, upwards of se- 

 venty of them, and made a covering to my hut 

 with their skins. They were so ravenous, that 

 with one hand we could hold to them a piece of 

 flesh, and with a stick or axe in the other could 

 knock them down. 



" From all the circumstances that occurred 

 during our stay, it was evident that these animals 

 could never before have been acquainted with 

 mankind; and that the dread of man is not in- 

 nate in brutes, but must be grounded on long ex- 

 perience. 



" Like the common foxes, they were the most 

 sleek and full of hair in the months of October 

 and November. In January and February the 

 growth of this was too thick. In April and May 

 they began to shed their coat ; in the two follow- 

 ing months they had only wool upon them, and 

 appeared as if they went in waistcoats. In June 

 they dropt their cubs, nine or ten at a brood, in 

 holes and clefts of the rocks. They are so fond 

 of their young, that, to scare us away from them, 

 they barked and yelled like dogs, by which they 

 betrayed their covert; but no sooner did they 

 perceive that their retreat was discovered, than 

 (unless prevented) they dragged the young away 

 in their mouths, and endeavoured to conceal 

 them in some more secret place. On one of us 

 killing the young, the dam would follow him 

 with dreadful bowlings, both day and night; and 



