346 MR. R. BROWN ON THE MAMMALS OF GREENLAND. [May 2^, 



varying according to the tribe anfiong whom the myth is prevalent, 

 from a ball of clay to one of pine-resin ! 



I do not think that it hybernates during the whole winter, as 

 usually supposed; at all events they are often seen during the winter, 

 though these are probably old males. It is probable that the 

 females, when not pregnant, roam all winter like the males. Un- 

 like its congeners, it does not hug, but bites ; and it will not eat its 

 prey until it is dead, playing with it like a cat with a mouse. I have 

 known many men who, while sitting watching or skinning Seals, 

 have had its rough hand laid on their shoulder. Their only chance 

 has been then to feign being dead, and manage to shoot it while the 

 Bear was sitting at a distance watching its intended victim. Though 

 Eskimo are often seen who have been scarred by it, yet I repeat that, 

 unless attacked, or rendered fierce by hunger, it rarely attacks man. 

 During our last trip to Greenland none of our party saw one ; in- 

 deed they are only killed in the vicinity of Disco Bay during the 

 winter or spring, when they have either come or drifted south on 

 the ice-floes. Six were killed in the vicinity of Omenak during the 

 winter of 1866-67. 



2. VuLPES LAGOPUS (Liuu.) ; Rich. F. B. A. i. 83. 

 Groenl. Terienniak, Kaka. 



The Arctic Fox is very numerous in south and mid Greenland, 

 more seldom in the north of the Danish possessions, but is quite 

 plentiful again north of Upernavik to high up in Smith's Sound. 



There are two varieties, the blue and the white. This colour is 

 not dependent on the season. The white variety is also more nume- 

 rous and much less valued than the blue ; but, again, the blue and 

 the white varieties interbreed, and often, the Eskimo say, there is a 

 white mother with blue young, and vice versa. The blue Fox is very 

 valuable, the price for the best kind of skin being from six to seven 

 times as much as for that of the white. Some have been sold at the 

 annual auction of the Greenland furs, in Copenhagen, at over twenty 

 rigsdaler (nine rigsdaler = j6 1 sterling). There are yearly killed 

 from 1000 to 3000 of the white and blue foxes, two-thirds being 

 blue and one-third white. In Greenland the white is traded for three 

 marks {\s. \^d.), and the blue for two rigsdaler {As. 6d.). It is not 

 killed by the Greenlanders in summer, as its summer coat is not 

 valuable. At this time it is found in the mountains preying on the 

 yo\mg Ptarmigan (Tetrao reinhardti, Brehm). In winter it comes 

 down to prey on shellfish or other marine produce, at the open 

 places near the shore when the tide breaks the ice. About this 

 period it can often be seen barking most impudently at the solitary 

 hunter. 



3. Canis FAMiLiARis, Linn. 

 a. Var. borealis. 



Groenl. Kemmek or Kremmek. 



(a) The Dog of the Eskimo is the same species all over the 



