1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
93 
The Hare-In dian Dog.— (Canis familiaris.) 
The dog represented upon this page will be readily 
recognized as a relative of the so-called Esquimaux 
dog. The similarity in form and feature between 
the dogs inhabiting the 
arctic countries, and 
which are classed under 
the general term Esqui¬ 
maux, and the wolf of 
that northern region, is 
so close that naturalists 
consider the dog to be 
descended from the 
wolf. It is known that 
the dogs have bred with 
the wolves, and the 
half-bred animals have 
been tamed and do¬ 
mesticated. In general, 
the dogs of the different 
varieties known as Es¬ 
quimaux, have gained 
little or nothing over 
their wild ancestors by 
their entrance into do¬ 
mestication and servi¬ 
tude. Starved, for the 
greater portion of the 
year, and kept so hungry 
that they occasionally 
attack and consume 
each other, they are at 
other times but barely 
half fed that they may 
work in the hardest 
manner in drawing the 
sledges of their savage 
masters. They are at the same time so cruelly 
used and beaten, when forced by the pangs of hun¬ 
ger, they neglect their work to help themselves by 
stealth to the scanty provisions laid up for the use 
of their owners, that they evince none of the 
kindness of disposition or affection for their keepers 
shown by dogs of other races ; but on occasions 
when made furious by severe torture, they turn 
upon their tormentors, and unless driven off, 
would soon rend them to pieces, and devour them. 
The dogs of the Hare 
Indians, while they 
closely resemble their 
wilder relatives in some 
respects, are rendered 
less savage by better 
treatment and relief 
from degrading labor. 
These Indians inhabit 
the region around the 
Great Bear Lake and 
the Mackenzie River in 
North America, and 
while the Esquimaux 
dog is found through¬ 
out the whole of the 
Arctic Zone, this variety 
inhabits only the Amer¬ 
ican portion of it, and 
is confined to the pos¬ 
session of the Indians 
mentioned, and one or 
two other neighboring 
tribes. The dog has a 
mild countenance; a 
smallhead; slendermuz- 
zle; erect stout ears; 
the oblique eyes of the 
wilder races; slender 
legs ; a broad hairy foot, 
and a bushy tail which 
it generally carries curl¬ 
ed over its right hip, 
as is done by the true Esquimaux. Its fur is long, 
especially upon the shoulders ; and beneath it, all 
over the body, and even upon the tail, there is a 
coat of thick wool. The hair upon the top of the 
head is long, and upon the cheek is not only long 
but turns backwards, giving the appearance of a 
ruff or collar around the throat. The face, muzzle, 
belly, and legs, are white, and a white line passes 
over the crown of the head. The ears are white in 
front, and fawn-color behind. .The end of the nose, 
eye-lashes, roof of the mouth, and parts of the 
gums, are black. The back and sides are grey, or 
The Blue Arctic Fox.— (Vulpes Lagopus\ 
DOG OF THE HAKE INDIANS. 
lead-color, mixed with fawn and white, not in 
patches, but shaded into each other; the bushy tail 
is white beneath and at the tip. The feet are cov¬ 
ered with long hair, which conceals the claws. The 
soles are partially covered with hair, but there are 
naked protuberant callosities even in the winter 
time upon the soles, as there are in all the northern 
species of dogs and wolves. The ears are some¬ 
what nearer to each other than in the true Esqui¬ 
maux dogs. This race is used only for hunting, 
THE BLUE AKCTIC FOX. 
and as may be reasonably supposed, their occupa¬ 
tion tends to develop finer and higher instincts, 
greater courage, and altogether a better and gentler 
disposition towards their owners, than exists in the 
wholly brutal and savage Esquimaux dog, made so, 
no doubt, by cruel treatment and hard labor. 
One of the most valuable of the different species 
of foxes, considering the fur as the measure of the 
value, is the Arctic fox. This animal is eagerly 
hunted all through the 
Arctic regions, and is 
in great repute on ac¬ 
count of its beautifully 
silky fur. This is per¬ 
fectly white in the win¬ 
ter, at which season it 
has the greatest value 
in the hunter’s estima¬ 
tion ; at other times it 
becomes of a bluish 
leaden - grey color, 
whence the animal takes 
one of its names. It is 
called the White Fox, 
the Blue Fox, and the 
Stone Fox. When the 
fur has a peculiar 
bluish-grey tint, it is 
valued nearly as highly 
as when white, so that 
it is hunted at all sea¬ 
sons, excepting at the 
time when the coat is 
changing. It inhabits 
both the Asiatic and 
American Arctic coun¬ 
tries, but the largest 
numbers of skins are 
procured in America by 
the hunters of the Hud¬ 
son Bay Company, at 
whose annual sales, in 
London, the fur brings very high prices, sometimes 
surpassing a hundred dollars for a single skin. It is 
rarely that more than a hundred skins are sold at one 
of these sales, and frequently the number is much 
less than that. As is peculiar to some kinds of foxes, 
the soles of the feet of this species are thickly cov¬ 
ered with hair, from which it gets the name Lago¬ 
pus, or “ hairy-footed.” It subsists upon birds, and 
exhibits great cunning in the capture of its prey. 
It possesses the power of imitating the cries of 
birds, and by this deceit 
is enabled to entice 
them to destruction. 
While it is thus remark¬ 
ably acute in providing 
itself with food, yet it 
has not the suspicious 
wariness which renders 
other species of foxes 
so difficult of capture, 
and so successful in 
eluding danger and 
baffling pursuit. It is 
easily enticed into traps, 
and will generally per¬ 
mit a hunter to ap 
proach within eas,. 
range of a shot-gun. It 
it were not that it is so 
sparsely scattered over 
its barren hunting 
grounds, and that its 
food were not equally 
sparsely supplied, it 
would become so easy 
a prey, that it would be 
in danger of early ex¬ 
termination. .It lives in 
burrows which it ex¬ 
cavates in the ground 
during the summer 
months, and is so¬ 
ciable in its habits, 
the burrows being formed in groups of twenty 
or thirty in one locality. When alarmed at the 
approach of a human being, or other enemy, it 
retires to its burrow, but from curiosity or for 
some other reason, it continually protrudes its 
head and y elps at its disturber, so that its retreat 
