184 The Carnivora. 
appeared in the Daily News, evidently from the pen of an 
experienced Arctic traveller, an article entitled “ Christmas 
near the North Pole,’ the following interesting extract from 
which illustrates the power of reflection in a wild animal: 
“On the morning of Christmas Day, we rose earlier than 
usual. It was not a bitter morning by any means. The 
air was deliciously calm, and the sky slightly cloudy, with a 
pleasant temperature of 64 degs. below freezing point, or 32 
degs. below the zero of Fahrenheit. At breakfast, there were 
already signs of luxury, as, in addition to tea, we had each 
man six ounces of biscuit. Then the cook and his mate put 
the plum-pudding into the pot, whilst I went to visit a gun 
set for white foxes, at which one of these pretty little animals 
had been shot some days before. On going up to the gun, 
I found that something was amiss. The line attaching the 
trigger to the bait seemed out of place, and on examination 
I found the line cut and the bait gone. The footmarks of 
the fox on the snow showed clearly how the clever little 
creature had gone to work so as to get his Christmas break- 
fast without danger to himself. The little fellow had pro- 
bably seen his comrade shot, or noticed him dead, for evi- 
dently this one had studied the position of the gun with great 
care from all points of view except directly in front of the 
muzzle. From the numerous tracks, and the marks where he 
had sat down like a dog upon the snow, his front always 
towards the gun, it was evident that he had first carefully 
studied the situation, and then deliberately (his deliberation 
was distinctly marked by the shortness of his steps) gone up 
and cut the line where it hung below the line of fire. He 
had then carried the severed end of the line attached to the 
bait to one side, and afterwards gone straight up to the bait 
and eaten it. Was this practical or abstract reasoning on 
the part of the fox? He had certainly no experience of guns 
set to shoot foxes, with the one possible exception in the 
case of his comrade, whom he might have previously seen 
killed, for there were no guns used within 600 miles of 
