“A farmer in Bogside, Beith, of the name of Fleming, was looking out of his window one summer’s morning, about three o’clock, when he saw a Fox crossing a field before it, carrying a large Duck which he had captured. On coming to a stone dyke, about four feet high, on the side of the field, Reynard made an effort to leap over it with his prey, but failed, and fell back into the field. After making three attempts, with the same result, he sat down, and viewed the dyke for a few minutes; after apparently satisfying himself, he caught the Duck by the head, and standing up against the dyke with his fore-paws as high as he could reach, he placed the bill of the Duck in a crevice in the wall; then springing upon the top he reached down, and pulling up the Duck, dropped it upon the other side, leaped down, and picking it up, went on his way.” The Common Fox is found, under more or less well-marked varieties, some of which are often elevated to the rank of species, over the greater part of Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and in many parts of America. THE ARCTIC FOX.[131] This is an extremely well-marked species of Fox, found in the southern and central parts of Greenland, and extending high up Smith’s Sound. It is sometimes seen during the Seal-hunting season hundreds of miles from land, on the frozen sea, where it has wandered to feast on the dead Seals. It is usually stated that the colour of the skin of this animal varies with the season--that in summer it is of a blue-grey colour, while in winter it is perfectly white; these colours, of course, serving as a protection to the animal: the blue harmonises well with the rocky shore and the thick, dark ice, while the winter coat is perfectly indistinguishable on the snow, with which the ground is then thickly strewn. But according to a writer of high authority, Dr. Robert Brown, this is all a mistake. The white and blue colours are distinctive of separate varieties of the Arctic Fox, and not of the same animal at different seasons; the colour in each case being wholly independent of the time of year. The length, from snout to root of tail, is about two feet, that of the tail itself about a foot. An interesting account of the manners and customs of this pretty little animal is given by Sir J. Richardson, who says:--