The animals we have spoken of live on grass or other vegetation, and their ability to exist depends primarily on their ability to cover enough pasture ground to ensure sufficient food. Their dinner always awaits their coming. With the fox and wolf the question is more serious, for they live on flesh, either of animals or of fish. The long silky hair makes the arctic fox beautiful in winter, and, indeed, quite the whole year, for in the farthest north his color remains quite unchanged from a snowy whiteness. They are much smaller than the common fox, the total length, including the bushy tail, varying from two to three feet, and their weight is from eight to twenty pounds; in late winter, however, some do not weigh over five pounds. As the arctic ptarmigan has feet quite clothed with fine feathers as a protection against cold, so the arctic fox needs for the soles of his feet the thick covering of hair that earns for him the designation of _lagopus_ (hairy). After fifteen years' experience in South Greenland, Dr. Rink, fully recognizing the craftiness of the fox, but also knowing the great difficulty of obtaining animal food, says: "How these little fellows are able to find food necessary to support life during eight months of the year at the northern fiords remains somewhat of a mystery. Hares and partridges are scarce, and seem unable to yield sufficient food for the foxes. In summer the fox seeks the water's edge for mussels or other food there exposed at low tide. He follows the seal-hunter, whether he be man or bear, for the drops of blood or bits of skin and meat yielded by the chase." In Boothia Felix, Captain Ross found that he burrows and accumulates supplies. He says: "One of their burrows was discovered on the sandy margin of a lake; it had several passages, each opening into a common cell, beyond which was an inner cell, where the young, six in number, were taken. In the outer cell, and in the several passages leading to it, we found a great number of the two species of lemmings, several ermines, and the bones of hares, fish, and ducks in great quantities." In the extreme north the difficulties of life for the fox greatly increase. Shell-fish disappear, seal as a rule migrate for the winter, and the hunting season shortens wofully with the lengthening winter. Moreover, in Grinnell Land the fox cannot burrow, for the earth never thaws more than a foot or two. However, the cunning animal utilizes nooks and crevices as dens and store-houses. The theory advanced by Professor Newton that the foxes of Spitsbergen lay up in summer a store of food for winter use has been confirmed as to the foxes of North Grinnell Land and Greenland. [Illustration: THE ARCTIC FOX CATCHING HIS DINNER.]