Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/344

318 not unmusical wail reverberated from the hills. After this date we saw no more of these animals till the 25th May, when a single individual followed the sledge I was with for several days as we travelled along the coast. It was a most cunning beast, and eluded all our endeavours to get a shot at it. Subsequently I procured a cranium and part of the skeleton of one of these animals, which was picked up by a sailor of the ship. This animal is infested by a species of tenia.

Vulpes lagopus.—The Arctic Fox decreases in numbers as we proceed up Smith Sound. One was shot on the ice near Victoria Head, Grinnell Land, which was prowling around the ship, and more than one specimen was obtained near the winter-quarters of the 'Discovery.' At Floe-berg Beach, the winter-quarters of the 'Alert,' foot-prints of the Fox were occasionally seen in the snow, but it was not till the 13th July, 1876, that I obtained a specimen in the flesh. On that occasion Lieutenant Parr, R.N., and I were out on a hunting expedition, our tent being pitched at Dumbell Harbour, some miles north of Floe-berg Beach, and from it we made daily incursions up the valleys leading to the uplands in hopes of meeting with big game. On the date above mentioned we had ascended to an altitude of eight hundred feet above the sea, and had emerged on a great plateau which stretched for several miles towards a range of mountains. The snow had melted from more than one-half of its area, the surface being composed of splintered slates, which rendered walking very disagreeable and very severe on shoe-leather. A few Knots, Tringa canutus, rose wild from pools of snow-water, and tempted us to continue our journey along this dreary upland, in hopes of finding a nesting pair. Soon heavy snow began to fall, and the mist came tearing down from the mountains enveloping us. We steered then by compass, but occasionally the sun and wind dispersed the mist and gave us good sights of the mountains, by which we corrected our bearings. All of a sudden we were startled by the sharp bark of a Fox. More than a year had elapsed since we had heard such a sound. It seemed very close to us, and as the fog lifted we saw the animal standing on a little hill of piled-up rocks that rose like an islet from the plateau. Separating we approached the Fox from opposite directions. Parr fired at it, when it dropped down and crawled below some heavy rocks: out rushed the female from its lair, and we secured her. These animals in summer garb