Photos by Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green.
ARCTIC FOX.
In summer. Changing his coat. In winter.
The Arctic Fox is one of the few animals showing different phases of colour, some being blue at all seasons, while others are white in winter and mottled brownish in summer.
The Arctic Fox is somewhat different in habits from others. It is also much smaller than the red foxes. Its fur is almost as soft as eiderdown, and so thick that the cold does not penetrate. In winter the whole coat changes colour, not gradually, but in patches. At the same time a dense growth of under-fur comes up on the body. In summer this is shed in patches, almost like loose felt. The foxes live in colonies, but are so hard put to it for food in the winter that they desert their homes to gather round whaling-ships or encampments. There they steal everything edible, from snowshoe-thongs to seal-flesh. Blue foxes are bred and kept for the sake of their fur on some of the islands in Bering Sea. They are fed on the flesh of the seals killed on the neighbouring islands, and are, like them, killed when their coat is in condition.
The Fennecs.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
FENNEC-FOX.
Remarkable for the great size of the ears. An African species. Its sense of hearing is probably very acute.
Africa has a group of small foxes of its own. They have very large ears and dark eyes. Some of them remind us of the Maholis and other large-eyed lemuroids. Several are not more than 9 or 10 inches long; they are a whitish-khaki colour, but the eyes are very dark and brilliant.