318 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
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 tll the 13th July, 1876, that | 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 platean 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 dis- 
agreeable and very severe on shoe-leather. A few Knots, 7ringa 
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 
