THE ARCTIC FOX. 1Q3 



Some specimens are grey and brown; but the majority are 

 of a deep ash colour ; and usually become white in winter, at 

 which season the hair is longer than in summer. The nose is 

 sharp ; the ears short and almost concealed in the fur j and the 

 under surface of the toes are hairy.* It is smaller than the 

 common fox ; the hair is softer ; and the tail shorter and more 

 bushy. It has neither the speed nor the cunning of the common 

 fox, and is less timid. 



The food of the arctic fox appears to consist of hares, 

 lemmings, ermines, ducks, fish, and mollusks. Captain Sir 

 John Ross says, that the foxes at Fury Beach, having contrived 

 to get at the ship's stores, ate the candles.f 



In the most southern parts of Sweden, where it is sometimes 

 killed, it has been known to stand contemplating the gunner's 

 approach until the trigger has been drawn and the fatal bullet 

 discharged. Pennant says, that it is so simple that instances 

 have been known of its standing by while a trap was baiting, 

 and immediately afterwards putting its head into it. Steller, 

 tells us, that whenever he and his companions halted to rest 

 while on Bering's Island, the foxes gathered around them, and 

 played a thousand tricks in their view. " When we sat still," 

 he says, " they approached us so near that they gnawed the 

 thongs of our shoes. If we lay down, they came and smelt at 

 our noses, to ascertain whether we were dead or alive. On our 

 first arrival, they bit off the noses, fingers, and toes of our dead, 

 while we were preparing the grave ; and thronged in such a 

 manner about the sick and infirm, that it was with difficulty 

 we could keep them off. 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 innate in brutes, but must be 

 grounded on long experience." 



* Cuvier observes that several of the foxes, and even the common species, 

 have hair under their feet in the north ; a circumstance already mentioned as 

 being observable in the sable and beech marten. 



f Narrative of a Second Voyage in search of a N.W. Passage (1835). 



O 



