WHITE FOX. 93 



many eggs of this bird. It is captured in traps made 

 of blocks of ice. Its bark is short and brisk, resembling 

 that of a Squirrel. 



There are three to five young in a litter. Its flesh, 

 especially when young, is edible and white ; that of the 

 Eed Fox is rank and disagreeable. 



BLUE FOX. 



Caiiis lagopiis. 

 French : Eenard bleu. German : Blaufuchs. 



The Blue Fox is of the same size and form as the 

 White Fox. It only differs from it in the Alaskan 

 Islands, where it attains a larger size, owing probably 

 to the abundant animal food found there. 



The pelt, fur, and habits are exactly the same as in 

 the White Fox ; it is simply a variety of colour of this 

 animal, and has rightly been classed as one species. 

 Some naturalists (scientific) are wrong in supposing 

 that a Blue Fox turns white in winter. It always 

 remains a Blue Fox. This error hae^ probably arisen in 

 the fact that a White Fox often turns a drab or slate- 

 blue in the summer. 



The Blue Fox is not, as one would suppose it to be, of 

 an ultramarine or sky-blue colour ; it is rather of a 

 slate, drab, or darkish purple hue. 



The fur of the Alaskan Blue Fox, although coarse, is 

 of a dark blue sooty colour, and is most valued on 

 account of its rich deep colouring. 



About 2,000 skins are imported yearly into London 

 by the Alaska Commercial Company, and fetch up to 

 222s., and are collected in the Pribylov and Attoo Islands. 



According to Elliot, the Blue Fox feeds on birds' eggs. 



