11 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY: 



TheSwedifh archbifhop, Ol. Magnus, Hift. lib. xviii c. 39i 

 40. fays of the Fox, All that and much more have we heard or 

 feen of our own obfervation ; more ftrange things have been re- 

 lated to me than all authors have written. 



When he wants to get rid of his fleas without difturbance, he 

 takes a bunch of mofs or ftraw in his mouth, and goes back- 

 wards into the water, wading by flow fteps deeper and deeper ; 

 by which means the fleas have time, and can retire gradually to 

 the dry places 5 at laft to the part of the neck and head which 

 he alone keeps above water ; and to crown the work, he gathers 

 all his enemies into the before-faid bunch of ftraw, and then drops 

 them m the water, and runs away well waihed and cleaned. 

 This project is fo cunning, that mankind could not teach him 

 better. 



His long hairy tail, with which nature has not fupply'd him 

 in vain, he ufes in Norway, amongft other purpofes, to catch 

 crabs. They are fond of any thing hairy, and generally will lay 

 hold of it ,• by which means he draws them aihore. 



* When he fees the otter is out on filhing, he hides himfeif 

 behind a ftone, and when the other comes afhore to eat his prey, 

 he comes upon him by a quick and high leap, that the otter' 

 who other wife fears not the Fox, is ftartled, and leaves him the 

 booty. 



A certain perfon was furprized on feeing a Fox near a fiflier- 

 man's houfe, laying a parcel of torlks, or cods heads, all in a 

 row, and could not conceive what he was going to do, till he 

 faw that he hid himfeif behind them, and made a booty of the 

 firft crow that came for a bit of them. 



SECT. XL 



jerv, or Jerven, or Erven, is one of the beafts in Norway which few 



other countries know farther than by report. In fome places, parti- 

 cularly Fronhiemlke, where they are moft frequent, they are called 

 Kola ; but the common name Jerv, or Gierv, is given them 

 Senfii nativo, per excellentiam ; from their violent, greedy, and 

 voracious difpofition. The Germans have given this creature 

 alfb the name of Vielfrafs, or Great Eater ; and fome in Latin 

 Gulo f . Its fize and lhape is fbmething like a long-bodied dog, 



^ * When the She-Fox is purfued by dogs, and they come pretty near her, fhe 

 piffes on her tail, and wifks it in their eyes, which makes them fmart ; and then fhe 

 efcapes. Hans Frids Flamming German Huntfman, p. 112. 



+ The Glutton, a creature of the weafel kind. The Gulo of authors ; the Muftela 

 rufo fufea medio dorfa nigro. It is a wild notion that the people here in general have 

 conceived ; which is, that Jerven is the Bear's third cub ; though fhe brings but feldom 

 forth more than two at a time. 



with 



