ARCTIC FOX. 
then very sliort. Tlic mother suckles v^nd 
attends them in tlie hole during five or six 
weeks ; after which, she makes them go out, 
and brings them. vi£lua]s. In the month of 
September, theii- liair is more than half an inch 
long. At this period, those which are to be 
Wiiite, arc almost entirely so ; except a broad 
band along the back, and another acro^.s the 
shoulders. It is then that the Isatis is called 
the Cross Fox. From this circumstance, it 
is probable that the Vulp6s Crucigera of 
Gesner, and of Rzaczinski, is the same ani- 
mal with the Isatis. But this browh cross 
disappears before winter, when they are en- 
tirely white, and their hair is more than two 
inches in length. About the month of jVlay, 
tiie hair begins to fall ofF, and the moulting is 
finished in July. Hence the fur is good in 
winter only. 
*' The Isatis lives on Rats, Hares, and 
Birds; and, in seizing them, he uses as much 
address as the Fox. He swims aci r^ss lakes,-in 
quest of the nests of Ducks and of Geese, and 
€ats the eggs and the young. In these cold 
and 
