253 THE ARCTIC FOX, 



They were so ravenous, that with one hand we 

 could hold to them a piece of flesh, and v/ith 

 a stick or ax in the other could knock them 

 down. 



*' From all the circumstances that occurred dur- 

 ing our stay, it was evident that these animals 

 could never before have been acquainted with man- 

 kind ; and that the dread of Man is not innate in 

 brutes, but must be grounded on long experience. 



" Like the common Foxes, they were the most 

 sleek and full of hair in the months of October and 

 November. In January and February the growth 

 of this was too thick. In April and May they began 

 to shed their coat ; in the two following months they 

 had only wool upon them, and appeared as if they 

 went in waistcoats. — In June they dropt their cubs, 

 nine or ten at a brood, in holes and clefts of the 

 rocks. They are so fond of their young, that, to 

 scare us away from them, they barked and yelled 

 like Dogs, by which they betrayed their covert ; 

 but no sooner did they perceive that their retreat 

 was discovered, than (unless they were prevented) 

 they dragged the young away in their mouths, and 

 endeavoured to conceal them in some more secret 

 place. On one of us killing the young, the dam 

 would follow him -with dreadful ho^vlings, both day 

 and night, for a hundred or more vrrsis* ; and would 

 not even then cease till she had done her enemy 

 some material injury, or was herself killed by him. 



^' In heavy falls-of snow, these animals bury them- 



* The Russian verst contains about 1 iGO^ English yards. 



