MAMMALS OF NOETHERN CANADA 195 



lively and frolicsome. They soon came to know those who 

 fed and visited them, hut they were timid, snappy, and retir- 

 ing with strangers. As they grew up and the season advanced, 

 they took to burrowing in the groimd under the office, but 

 they never tried to get away. So soon, however, as winter 

 approached and snow began to fall, they became very restive 

 and made frequent attempts to escape by tunneling under 

 the building and the oiiter stockades. In time, one or more 

 of each litter were successful in their efforts, and soon after 

 fell victims to outside trappers at no great distance from 

 the establishment. This, of course, led us to dispatch the 

 others for the benefit of their attendant. Dogs also managed 

 to kill two or three of the total number. 



The female brings forth annually in spring from three 

 to as many as six and seven at a birth. They are iborn blind, 

 and are very helpless for some days. Gestation occupies two 

 months, and the young are said to leave their natal home 

 when several months old. They are generally most numerous 

 around the shores of lakes and among marshy tracts in the 

 vicinity of the larger rivers. 



It is a well-known fact that foxes greatly fluctuate in 

 numbers — for some years in succession they are very abun- 

 dant, and then for a longer or shorter period they become 

 comparatively scarce. Chief Trader Bernard E. Ross (1848 

 and 1860) estimated that the proportion of the various col- 

 ored foxes traded by the Company in the Mackenzie River dis- 

 trict for twelve years of his time would be about six-fifteenths 

 red, seven-fifteenths cross, and two-fifteenths silver and black. 

 From 1853 to 1877, inclusive, the Hudson Bay sales in 

 London totalled 68,454 cross, 256,790 red, and 20,117 silver 

 and black. For thirteen of the twenty-five years, the cross- 

 fox sales fell below the average of 2,738 a year, say from 

 1853 to 1856, 1862 to 1866, and 1872 to 1875, and these 

 minus quantities ranged from 1,172 in 1854 to 2,315 in 

 1873. The other twelve years varied between the lowest, 

 2,455 for 1876, and the highest, 5,174 skins in 1869. If 



