FOXES. 565 



cliffs wherein the Alcidce were nesting one could, by listening almost at anj- time in 

 the twenty-four hours, hear its yapping bark. It is of course the chief enemy of all 

 the different kinds of birds, and their dread of it appears to influence them greatly 

 in their choice of breeding quarters. What the foxes do to get a living in winter, 

 when the birds have left the country, is one of the most curious questions that has 

 presented itself to my mind for some time. The greater number of tliem are said 

 to remain on the land and to be as acti\e during the long polar niglit as they are 

 in summer; yet there are no bei-ries bj- wliieli they miglit eke out their existence, 

 and there can be no open water, on the margin of which they might find food 

 \vithin miles of their haunts. The most natural explanation that occurs to one is 

 that they lay up a stock of provisions ; but nobody, that I am aware of, has ever 

 found such a store-closet." Not only does this fox prey upon the Arctic birds 

 themselves, but it also robs their eggs. Dr. Packard, when describing his experiences 

 in Northern Labrador, writes that on a certain dajr " I started up a blue fox, which 

 was ininning towards me with a murre's [guillemot's] egg in his mouth ; on my 

 throwing a stone at him he dropped his egg and scampered off. I hallooed for 

 nearly ten minutes for some one with a gun to come and shoot him, and kept him 

 in sight. With more of curiosity than fear he would stop at intervals to look at 

 me, keeping a safe distance off and barking, until he disappeared. Soon Mr. W. 

 came up ; we pursued, finding him on the other side of the island, with another egg 

 in his mouth. ]\Ir. W. gave him his deatli-wound, though he ran some distance 

 with the egg between his teeth before he di-oppeil deail. His flanks and belly were 

 white, the rest of a slate-blue colour, his legs very long, and tail long though not 

 very bushy. The more remarkable features were Ids short, rounded ears, as if 

 cropped." It is not, however, by any means solely on l)irds and their eggs that the 

 Arctic fox subsists, as in some districts it also preys largely upon the small Rodents 

 known as lemmings. In one district during the Arctic Expedition of 1875, under 

 Sir G. S. Nares, numbers of dead lenanings were discovered which had been killed 

 by these foxes, and hordes of lemmings were pulled out from the crannies of the 

 rocks, which had been collected by the foxes as a winter provision ; thus confirming 

 Professor Newton's suggestion as to the probable manner in which these animals 

 subsist in winter. 



With the desert-fox (C. leucopus) of South-Western Asia we 

 revert to the foxes of the temperate and tropical regions of the Old 

 World. This species is considerably smaller than the common fox, the length of 

 the head and body varjdng from 19 to 22 inches, and that of the tail from 12 to 

 16 inches. It agrees, however, witli that species in having a small white tip to the 

 tail, as it also does in the dark-coloured ears. Moreover, when the full tints are 

 developed, tliis animal is more strikingly coloured than the common species, 

 although tliere is a considerable amount of individual variation in this respect. 

 When full}- coloured, the fur of the back varies from brownish yellow to rusty 

 red, and there is usually a distinct pale patch on each side of the back behind tlie 

 shoulders, in front of which is a dark transverse stripe across them. The sides 

 are lighter, while the under-parts generally vary from slaty-grey to blackish, 

 the chin, and generally a spot on the chest, being white. In summer the dark 

 under-fur is seen through the ordinary hairs, and the whole colour is greyer, the 



