THE NORWEGIAN- LEMMING. 



405 



tion of the animal itself will not be out of place. It is a vole, like our 

 short-tailed field-mouse, very variable in size and color, but the figures 

 (Fig. 1), which are about half the natural size, will be found to resem- 

 ble the majority in the latter respect. The claws, especially on the 

 fore-foot, are strong and curved ; the tail is very short, the ears scarcely 

 visible, and the bead-like, black eyes seem always to notice objects 

 above them rather than those in any other direction. During the 

 summer these animals form their nests under stones, usually betray- 

 ing their habitations by the very care which they take to keep them 



Fig. 1. Geoup op Lemmings. 



sweet and clean. In winter, however, they form long galleries through 

 the turf and under the snow in search of their food, which is exclu- 

 sively vegetable; and it is at this time that those ravages are caused 

 which have led the Norwegians in former times to institute a special 

 form of prayer against their invasions. There are several species 

 of lemming, easily recognizable, and with well-marked geographical 

 range ; but it is to the Scandinavian species only that the following 

 old description applies: "It lives on the shoots of the dwarf-b^rcli, 

 reindeer lichens, and other mosses ; it hisses and bites; in winter it 

 runs under the snow ; and about every tenth year, especially before 

 an extremely severe winter, the whole army of animals, in the a\itumn 

 and at night, migrates in a direct line." According to Olaus Magnus 

 they fall from the clouds ; and Pennant narrates that " they descend 

 from the Kjolen, marching in parallel lines three feet apart; they trav- 



