478 NEW LAND. 



respect, and in the daytime it generally keeps at a cautious distance. 

 But at night it is sometimes quite another animal, and one which it 

 is well to beware of. . 



Far out on the great masses of drifting ice the track of another 

 animal, the Arctic fox (Can is lagopus), whose proper habitat, however, 

 is the land, is also not infrequently seen. It was common in all the 

 countries visited by the ' Fram,' and many of them were caught. 

 Among those captured was not a single ' blue ' one ; all were in winter 

 garb. In the summer there is, of course, enough food for the fox to live 

 on, but what it lives on in the winter has always been a riddle to 

 me, for of those we caught the stomach was nearly always entirely 

 empty. It can hardly be called a dainty eater, and we occasionally had 

 visits from them at the ship's side in the quiet of the winter night. 



Of the land-animals proper the musk-ox (Oi'ibos moschatus) was 

 naturally the one which interested us most during the expedition, partly 

 on account of the sport which shooting it afforded us, and partly on 

 account of its excellent meat. I will not enter here upon its great 

 courage and splendid mode of defence. In the text of this book 

 the subject will often be touched upon, and it is sufficient for me to 

 say that the musk-ox is pre-eminently the noblest game of the polar 

 lauds. The calves are born probably about the end of April, and this 

 is undoubtedly the time when the wolf is most dangerous to these 

 animals. Their food consists all the year round of grass and other 

 phanerogams, which they scrape from under the comparatively thin 

 sheet of snow. 



The other ruminant of the polar regions, the reindeer (Rangifer 

 tarandus\ was not nearly so common as the musk-ox. Their cast antlers, 

 however, were frequently seen on the land adjacent to Hayes Sound, 

 though the animal itself was never observed there. Single animals or 

 small herds were, however, met with here and there in King Oscar 

 Land, and the countries and islands west of it. It is without doubt on 

 account of the wolf, which with its great staying power tires it out and 

 at last overtakes it, that the reindeer is not found in greater numbers. 



Wheresoever the large valleys open out into the fjords, and where 

 the vegetation is rather more plentiful, there the handsome white Arctic 

 hare (Le-pus glacialis) is certain to be found ; often in quite large 

 numbers ; indeed, I may say, in absolute flocks. Its behaviour varies 

 much ; as sometimes it will allow one to approach quite near to it, while 

 at others it is a matter of difficulty even to come within reasonable rifle 

 range. Its movements are very remarkable, as it habitually rises upon 

 its hind-legs and covers long distances on them, sometimes hopping and 

 sometimes running. 



The other rodent of these lands, the lemming (My odes tor quotas), 



