. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. l62 Animal Life. A FAMILY OF MUSK-OXEN. is a thin, lithe-looking animal, somewhat smaller than his English relative. As everyone knows, the Arctic fox is one of those animals on whose coat the seasons effect a change in the matter of colour, altering as a rule from a darker hue to white or piebald in autumn, though I have seen these animals in the far north with coats quite dark even in the winter months. The most interesting characteristic of the Arctic fox is perhaps his habit of storing up a larder for use during the long
. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. l62 Animal Life. A FAMILY OF MUSK-OXEN. is a thin, lithe-looking animal, somewhat smaller than his English relative. As everyone knows, the Arctic fox is one of those animals on whose coat the seasons effect a change in the matter of colour, altering as a rule from a darker hue to white or piebald in autumn, though I have seen these animals in the far north with coats quite dark even in the winter months. The most interesting characteristic of the Arctic fox is perhaps his habit of storing up a larder for use during the long winter months, when food is scarce. The commonest of the Arctic Seals, of which there are many species, is the Greenland Harp-Seal, for whose capture scores of vessels annually leave the American, British, and Norwegian ports. A single vessel would take sometimes as many as 40,000 seals, which will give some idea of the immense destruction of life. The natural result has followed, namely, a very great reduction in their numbers. The Pur-Seal, the skin of which is used for ladies' jackets, comes only from Alaska and the islands off that coast. There was once a large fishery for fur-seals in the Antarctic regions, but indiscriminate slaughter almost exterminated them, and the survivors are now protected and slowly increasing in numbers. Like the seals, Reindeer, the great draught animals of the sub-Arctic regions, have a very wide distribution. They are the mainstay of the Samoyads, who to a large extent live upon their flesh, and of course make much use of them as draught animals. The same remark, but in a lesser degree, holds good with regard to the Lapps. The Samoyads never drive less than two reindeer abreast, sometimes as many as seven or eight, whereas the Lapps only harness up one ; but that one as a rule is much larger. The reindeer is the only deer of which both the male and female have antlers. The Caribou of Northern America are varieties of reindeer. In parts of Spit
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