5^4 



CARNIVORES. 



illustration. Moreover, occasionally, pure white foxes are to be met with in summer. 

 In Iceland, where the winter is less severe than in the more northerlj- regions, the 

 winter di-ess of the Arctic fox is nearly similar to the summer one, so that these 

 animals are " blue ' at all seasons. 



The assumption of a white dress in winter is in order to assimilate the colour 

 of the animal to that of the snow-fields among which it dwells, and it is somewhat 

 difficult to understand why the change does not invariably take place in the more 



ARCTIC FOX, n> WIXTEK DRESS (| uat size). 



northern regions. Tlie hair clothing the soles of the feet is to aid the creature in 

 obtaining a sure foothold on frozen snow and ice. 



According to Richardson, Arctic foxes, which were formerly abundant on the 

 shores of Hudson's Bay, dwelt there in small colonies of fi-om twenty to thirty 

 burrows each. During the autumn and winter such of these foxes as inhabit the 

 more northern districts of Arctic America undertake a southerly migration, keeping 

 as much as possible to the coasts, and the length of the migration depending to a 

 considerable extent whether the line of the coast coincides with the line of march 

 The Ai-ctic fox preys largely upon birds, especially upon various members of the 

 auk famil}% as we learn from Professor A Xewton, who writes, that " the Ai-ctic 

 fox is pretty numerous along the shores of the Ice Sound [Spitzbergen] : and we 

 not only frequently saw examples of it, but in the immediate neighbourhood of the 



