OcTOBEE, 1902.1 MAMMALS OF KEEWATIN. 68 



be described as follows: Head, back, base of tail dorsally, and stripe 

 extending- down on outer side of legs, seal brown; face and legs seal 

 brown, flecked with white; shoulders and thighs seal brown, flocked 

 with fawn; sides and lower pai'ts, including ventral surface of tail, light 

 fawn, deepest on sides; proximal two-thirds of tail above, hair brown, 

 strongly overlaid with fawn. The color of the adults is stated to l:>e 

 essentially the same as that of the young. On the Barren Grounds 

 north of Fort Churchill tracks of Arctic foxes were frequently seen. 

 Their dens were found at both of mj' camps south of Cape Eskimo, 

 and an immature individual, which closelj" resembled the specimen 

 above described, was trapped at the southernmost of these camps. 



The Continental Arctic fox occurs throughout northern Keewatin 

 and the adjacent islands of the Arctic Sea. In summer it seems to be 

 found chiefl}^ on the seacoast, and })reeds on the west coast of Hudson 

 Baj' as far south at least as the -^'icinity of York Factory." It was 

 recorded by Edward Sabine from the North (xeorgia Islands, where it 

 remained throughout the year,'' and by J. C. Ross from Port Bowen.'' 

 Richardson described a specimen in the blackish-brown phase, which 

 was killed December 16, on Winter Island, Melville Peninsula." Lyon 

 recorded the species from Duke of York Bay, Southampton Island.' 



In winter large numbers of these foxes pass down the coast of Hud- 

 son Bay. Many are still taken at Fort Churchill, though fewer than 

 in former years. Dr. Milne informs me that at York Factor}' a few 

 were taken every winter during his residence there, and that the spe- 

 cies reaches Severn River, a fact formerlj' recorded bj' Hearne.-^ I 

 saw a skin which had been taken during the winter of 1899-1900 near 

 a large lake about 75 miles north of Oxford House, and Mr. William 

 Campbell informed me that he trapped one some years ago at the out- 

 let of Oxford Lake. 



The winter of 1900-1901 was remarkable for the great number of 

 these animals which came southward, and for their wide dispersion in 

 the interior. Mr. J. K. MacDonald, of Norway House, wrote me that 

 on account of the light fall of snow the foxes followed up the rivers 

 from the Bay to the vicinity of that post. 



The normal phase of color seems to predominate throughout the 

 region. Among the many winter skins seen at York Factor}' and 

 Fort Churchill was only one 'blue' one — probabl}' the winter pelage 

 of the sooty phase — and the color is said to be of very rare occurrence 

 in the region. 



oJoseph Sabine, Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, Appendix, 

 p. 658, 1823. 



ftSuppl. to Appendix Parry's First Voyage, p. clxxxvii, 1824. 



cParry's Third Voyage, Appendix, p. 92, 1826. 



(^Fauna Boreali-Americana, I, p. 89, 1829. 



« Lyon's Private Journal, p. 46, 1824. 



/Journey * * * to the Northern Ocean, p. 364, 1795. 



