o2S ARCTIC FOX. 
the earthy and form holes many feet in length ; 
strewing the bottom Adth moss. But in Spitz- 
bergen and Greenland, where the ground is eter- 
nally frozen^ they live in the cliffs of rocks : two 
or three inhabit the same hole. They swim well, 
and often cross from island to island in search of 
prey. They bark like Dogs; for which reason 
the Russians call them Pefzti. They are tame 
and inoffensive animals; and so simple, that there 
are instances of their standing by when the trap 
was baiting, and instantly after putting their 
heads into it. They are killed for the sake of 
their skins, both in Asia and Hudson's Bay : the 
fur is light and warm^ but not durable: Mr. Gra- 
ham informed me, that they have appeared in 
such numbers about the fort, that he has taken, 
in different ways, four hundred from Decem- 
ber to March. He likewise assured me, that the 
tips of their tails are always black; those of the 
common Foxes are alw^ays white: and that he 
never could trace the breeding places of the for- 
mer. " 
^' The Greenlanders take them either in pit- 
falls dug in the snow, and baited with the Capelin 
fish^ or in springs made with whalebone laid over 
a hole made in the snow, strewed over at bottom 
with the same kind of fish ; or in traps made like 
little huts, with flat stones, with a broad one by 
way of door, which falls down (by means of a 
string baited on the inside with a piece of flesh) 
whenever the Fox enters and pulls at it. The 
Greenlanders preserve the skin for traffic ; and, in 
