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Show 316 MR. R. BROWN ON THE MAMMALS OF GREENLAND. [May 28, varying according to the tribe among whom the myth is prevalent, from a ball of clay to one of pine-resin ! I do not think that it hybernatcs during the whole winter, as usually supposed; at all events they are often seen during the winter, though these are probably old males. It is probable that the females, when not pregnant, roam all winter like the males. Unlike its congeners, it does not huy, but bites ; and it will not eat its prey until it is dead, playing with it like a cat with a mouse. I have known many men who, while sitting watching or skinning Seals, have had its rough hand laid on their shoulder. Their only chance has been then to feign being dead, and manage to shoot it while the Bear was sitting at a distance watching its intended victim. Though Eskimo are often seen who have been scarred by it, yet I repeat that, unless attacked, or rendered fierce by hunger, it rarely attacks man. During our last trip to Greenland none of our party saw one ; indeed they are only killed in the vicinity of Disco Bay during the winter or spring, when they have either come or drifted south on the ice-floes. Six were killed in the vicinity of Omenak during the winter of 1866-67. 2. VULPES LAGOPUS (Linn.) ; Rich. F. B. A. i. 83. Grcenl. Terienniak, Kaka. The Arctic Fox is very numerous in south and mid Greenland, more seldom in the north of the Danish possessions, but is quite plentiful again north of Upernavik to high up in Smith's Sound. There are two varieties, the blue and the white. This colour is not dependent on the season. The white variety is also more numerous and much less valued than the blue ; but, again, the blue and the white varieties interbreed, and often, the Eskimo say, there is a white mother with blue young, and vice versa. The blue Fox is very valuable, the price for the best kind of skin being from six to seven times as much as for that of the white. Some have been sold at the annual auction of the Greenland furs, in Copenhagen, at over twenty rigsdaler (nine rigsdaler = £ 1 sterling). There are yearly killed from 1000 to 3000 of the white and blue foxes, two-thirds being blue and one-third white. In Greenland the white is traded for three marks (1*. 1-§:*?.)> an(^ tbe blue for two rigsdaler (4*. 6d.). It is not killed by the Greenlanders in summer, as its summer coat is not valuable. At this time it is found in the mountains preying on the young Ptarmigan (Tetrao reinhardti, Brehm). In winter it comes down to prey on shellfish or other marine produce, at the open places near the shore when the tide breaks the ice. About this period it can often be seen barking most impudentlv at the solitary hunter. 3. CANIS FAMILIARIS, Linn. a. Var. borealis. Grcenl. Kemmek or Kremmek. (a) The Dog of the Eskimo is the same species all over the |
