MAMMALS OF NORTPIEEK CANADA 199 



Other expeditions in the polar regions have met with 

 many white and a feAv blue foxes. General Greely obtained 

 but twelve of the former, and he gives latitude 83° 24' north 

 as the most northerly range of this animal, which is there 

 indigenous. He says that the white fox of the Grinnell Land 

 section is much more wary than that of a few degrees of lati- 

 tude farther south, and therefore very difficult to approach 

 for a shot, while all but one example rejected many poisoned 

 baits set for them. Mr. Peterson, the well-known Eskimo 

 interpreter of several expeditions, asserted that this species 

 made caches of food for winter consumption. Captain Lock- 

 wood found several fox lairs. In one hidden rock nook he 

 found fifty dead lemmings, in others (sand and earth cov- 

 ered) there were from twenty to thirty lemmings, while in 

 a hollow he discovered a cache containing part of a polar 

 hare and the wings of a young brent goose and the usual 

 lemming. Some lairs appeared to be occupied from year to 

 year. MeClintock writes that in March, 1859, at Port Ken- 

 nedy, he shot a couple of white foxes that came playing 

 around the dogs, and, conscious of their superior speed, were 

 very impudent, snapping at the dogs' tails, and passing 

 almost under their noses. The captain intended both foxes 

 for the mess table, but the dogs anticipated him in respect 

 to one. The flesh of the other proved insipid, but decidedly 

 better to the taste than the tinned meat. 



When comparatively scarce, or rather less numerous 

 than usual, as sometimes happens in their native habitat, it 

 is a rare thing to meet with any foxes in the interior. It is 

 said that a litter consists generally of three and four, seldom 

 five, and when born the young are blind and helpless, but 

 they soon acquire sight and gradually increasing strength, 

 and they also become active and very playful. The adult 

 fox is seemingly stupid and is easily captured by both 

 Indians and Eskimos. It lives on mice, lemmings, birds, 

 and carrion. 



During the period of twenty-five years, 1853 to 18Y7, 



