The Arctic Fox, Canis lagopus, is known by its bluish summer and pure white winter dress as "Blue Fox" and "White Fox" respectively. It is an inhabitant of the Arctic north; but in former days, as its remains show, it descended to such southern latitudes as Germany and this country. The most southern point which it now inhabits is Iceland. This small Fox is well known as being one of the few animals which change their dress to a complete white in winter. This change is, however, not absolutely universal; and M. Trouessart has even stated that the supposed change does not exist, but that the colours are a question of age and sex. This Fox feeds on birds and cast-up carcases of Whales and Seals; it is also said to devour shell-fish, and actually to store up food when abundant for seasons of scarcity. A Fox has been observed to "carry off eggs in his mouth from an eider duck's nest, one at a time, until the whole were removed"; and in winter to "scratch a hole down through very deep snow to a cache of eggs beneath." These anecdotes are told by Sir Leopold M‘Clintock; but others have also asserted the storing habits of this Fox, which really has only a short time of the year in which it can catch suitable living food.
Canis vulpes, the Fox, is not only a native of England, but extends as far to the east as Egypt, the so-called C. aegyptiacus being at most a mere variety. Varieties indeed occur in these islands; the English Fox being redder, the Scotch greyer. Not only is the Fox a truly indigenous English beast, but its remains go back a very long way into past time. Its bones occur in the Red Crag, a deposit of Pliocene times. Its prevalence now is no doubt due to its preservation as a beast of chase. It lives in burrows, either excavating them itself or taking possession of those of some other animal; the Badger suffers in this way, and is said to be vanquished not by the teeth of the burglarious Fox, but by its far fouler habits! It is curious that the expression "foxing" is not so suitable to this animal as to many others. The habit of "shamming death" is a widely-spread one in the animal world, but at least not common with our Fox. The sagacity of the Fox appears to be a little more proverbial than actual; literature teems with its accomplishments. The worthy Archbishop of Upsala, Olaus Magnus, figured Foxes dipping their tails in the streams, and then pulling out inquisitive crayfishes
