This species feeds chiefly on young water fowl and eggs, and when very hungry, will eat any kind of shell or other fish. In the northern parts of Asia, and in Lapland, they prey on the _lemming_, or _Lapland marmont_, (_Mus Alpinus_,) which are often seen there in surprising numbers. They generally burrow in the ground, but in Spitzbergen and Greenland, where the intensity of the frost renders this impracticable, they lie in caverns, and in the cliffs of rocks, two or three together. They are so remarkably hardy, that the most rigorous severity of winter in these regions, never stops their search of prey. They are excellent swimmers, and are often seen passing from one island to another, especially at the time when bird-nests are to be found. Some zoologists have affirmed, that they are harmless, simple, and easily taken; but Fabricius assures us that they possess all the wildness and cunning of the _vulpes_, or fox of these kingdoms. Fabricius says, the Arctic fox has three different kinds of voices[14]. Its smell is not so fetid as that of the common fox. Its flesh is not only eaten by the Greenlanders, but some voyagers have esteemed it as being good food. Vid. _Phipps_, p. 184. [14] _Vocem habet triplicem: esurientis ejulando: coire volenti clamando, periclitantis murmurando._ Their skins are of little value in traffic, especially the white furred ones, as the fur easily comes off. It was formerly supposed that there were two species of Arctic foxes, but this is denied by Fabricius on very satisfactory grounds. These three quadrupeds constitute the entire of that great division of animals which belong to Spitzbergen. In warmer climes, the species are more numerous; but the individual animals do not there seem to possess more vigour or animation than these are imbued with. The climate of Spitzbergen being an extreme of cold, the animals of a more genial country cannot exist there. These species are indigenous to the regions of frost; cold is their element, and in it alone they thrive. The amphibious animals come next in order; and as the accounts of them, given by different voyagers and naturalists are extremely confused, I have been more circumstantial than would otherwise have been necessary.