MERI. 4h DS Ba®) X. 
fometimes white. The young, before they come to maturity, dufky. 
The hair, as ufual in cold regions, grows much thicker and longer 
in winter than fummer. 
Thefe animals are foundonly in the Arétic regions, afew degrees with~ 
in and without the Polar circle. They inhabit Spitzdergen, Greenland, 
and Jceland*: are only migratory in Hud/on’s Bay, once in four or five 
years ¢: are found again in Bering’s and £ Copper J/le, next toit; but 
in none beyond : in Kamt/chatka, and all the countries bordering on 
the frozen fea, which feems their great refidence; comprehending a 
wooclefs tract of heath land, generally from 70 to 65 degrees lat. 
They abound in Nova Zeméla ||: are found in Cherry ifland, midway 
between Finmark and Spitzbergen §, to which they muft have been 
brought on iflands of ice; for it lies above four degrees north of 
the firit, and three fouth of the laft: and laftly, in the bare mountains 
between Lapland and Norway. 
They are the hardieft of animals, and even in Spitzbergen and Nova 
Zembla prowl out for prey during the feverity of winter. They live 
on the young wild geefe, and all kind of water-fowl; on their eggs ; 
on hares, or any leffer animals; and in Greenland, (through neceffity) 
on berries, fhell-fifh, or whatfoever the fea throws up. But in the 
north of Afa, and in Lapland, their principal food is the Lemings |. 
The Arctic foxes of thofe countries are as migratory as thofe little 
animals; and when the laft make their great migrations, the latter 
purfue them in vaft troops. But fuch removals are not only un- 
certain, but long: dependent on thofe of the Leming. The Foxes 
will at times defert their native countries for three or four years, 
probably as long as they can find any prey. The people of Feni/ea 
imagine, that the wanderers from their parts go to the banks of 
the Ody. 
« Egede, 62. Marten’s Spitzb. 100. Horrebow’s Iceland, 43. + Mr. Graham, 
{ Muller’s Col. voy. 53. || Heem/kirk?s voy. 34. § Purchas, iii. 559. 
q Of which I apprehend there are two fpecies—the Lapland, Hif. Quad. N° 317, 
and the Mus Migratorius of Pallas, or Yaik Rat, Hiff, Quad. N° 326. which inhabits 
the country near the Yai&. 
G 2 Thofe 
43 
