HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 311 



THE ARCTIC FOX. 

 (Cams Lapogus, Linn. Isatis, Buff.) 



INHABITS the countries bordering on the Frozen 

 Sea. It is found in Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, 

 Nova-Zembla, and Lapland ; in Kamschatka, and 

 the opposite parts of America. It burrows, and 

 makes holes in the ground, several feet in length ; 

 at the end of which it -forms a nest of moss. In 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen, it lives in the clefts of 

 rocks, being unable to burrow, on account of the 

 frost. Two or three of them inhabit the same 

 hole. 



It is endowed with all the cunning of the com- 

 mon Fox, preys on young Geese, Ducks, and other 

 water-fowl, before they are able to fly; likewise on 

 Hares, wild-birds and eggs : and in Greenland, for 

 want of other food, it feeds on berries and shell-fish. 

 In Lapland and the North of Asia, its principal food 

 is the Leming, or Lapland Marmot; immense num- 

 bers of which sometimes cover the face of the 

 country. The Foxes follow them in their migra- 

 tions from one place to another ; and as the return 

 of the Marmot is very uncertain, and frequently 



