The other fox, an old female, proved vicious and intractable. Despite kind treatment, every effort to handle her resulted in serious bites. She was kept chained, but made such frequent and violent shows of anger, at times bordering on madness, as compelled us to kill her. She never showed any signs of fear, and neglected no effort to free herself. She was confined in a lean-to, at the door of which the Eskimo dogs gathered for their daily food. Whenever a dog was in sight, Miss Fox put on a bold front, showed her teeth threateningly, and emitted a series of low growls, somewhat of a modification of the shrill barks the fox usually indulges in. Several of the half-grown dogs rushed in on her, one at a time and on different occasions, but the fox met the attacks with such courage that the puppies retreated, one of them howling dismally at his wounded muzzle, in which the fox had deeply inserted her sharp teeth. The tame fox broke his chain and made a burrow in the snow wall that surrounded the house. As daylight was then continuous, and there were about thirty dogs around the quarters, it was thought that the fox would fear to attempt an escape. After ten days, however, he took the chances, and successfully ran the gauntlet of Eskimo dogs. Doubtless the female fox has the hardest life, her energies being severely taxed in caring for her young. She is always in poorer flesh than the male, and as a rule she is much more vicious, and less amenable to kindly treatment. An instance of the endurance and possibly the craft of the arctic fox may be cited in the experience of Biederbick, one of our expedition, who put a bullet through a fox and apparently killed him. Failing to reload his gun, the expectant hunter went forward to pick up his prey. To his great astonishment and chagrin, as he neared the wounded animal the fox, lamed and bleeding, sprang up and ran off at such a pace that he escaped. It may be added that the arctic fox, while noted for his courage and endurance, is not skilled against traps or pitfalls, but shows a proneness to be caught that borders at times on stupidity. [Illustration: THE ARCTIC WOLF.] The white-skinned, large-limbed wolf is the most ravenous, untiring, and dangerous of all arctic animals. Its tireless gallop, sharp teeth, snappish bites, and powers of a concerted action with its own kind make it possible for this predacious animal to live wherever game of any considerable size is to be found. In Grinnell Land he subsists almost entirely on the musk-oxen, who find their only safety by travelling in bands. When attacked they form a circle, and placing their calves and feeble members in the centre, by opposing horns and desperate bellowings stand off the encircling wolves. Woe, however, to the straggling ox who falls in with wolves, for he never escapes.