270 
ARCTIC FOX. 
them, that we killed them, young and old/ and 
harassed them by every means we could devise. 
When we awoke in the morning, there always lay 
two or three that had been knocked on the head 
the preceding night; and I can safely affirm, 
that, during my stay upon the island, I killed 
above two hundred of these animals with my own 
hands. Onthe third day after my arrival, I knocked 
down with a club, w ithin the space of three hours, 
upwards of seventy of them, and made a covering 
to my hut with their skins. They were so ravenous, 
that with one hand we could hold to them a 
piece of flesh, and with a stick or ax in the other 
could knock them dow r n. 
From all the circumstances that occurred 
during our stay, it w as evident that these animals 
could never before have been acquainted with 
mankind ; and that the dread of man is not innate 
in brutes, but must be grounded on long experi- 
ence. 
^ Like the common foxes, they w r ere the most 
sleek and full -of hair in the months of October and 
November. In January and February the growth 
of this was too thick.. In April and May they 
began to shed their coat ; in the two following 
months they had only wool upon them, and ap- 
peared as if they went in. waistcoats. . In June 
they dropt their ebbs, nine 'or ten at a brood, in 
holes and clefts of the rocks. ; They are so fond 
of their young, that, to scare 11s away from them, 
they barked and yelled like dogs, by which they 
betrayed their covert ; but no sooner did they 
perceive that their retreat was discovered, than 
(unless they were prevented) they dragged the 
young aw T ay in their mouths, and endeavoured to 
conceal them in some more secret place. On 
one of us killing the young, the dam would fol- 
low him with dreadful bowlings, both day ancj 
