FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA 321 



more isolated than popofensis of the Shumagin group. The feet 

 and tail of those from Sanak are dark (as on the Peninsula) ; 

 the feet and tail are darker than on unalascensis and duskier than 

 on kadiacensis, the latter being essentially browner. On the whole, 

 this small series from Sanak Island cannot be differentiated 

 from operarius, and should be included in that form. 



Meadow mice were abundant on Dolgoi Island in 1937, but none 

 were trapped, and they were plentiful on Sanak Island, where 

 they are known as "gophers." In 1936, they were extremely 

 abundant at Cape Pankof, Unimak Island, but they were exceed- 

 ingly scarce on other parts of the same island. Some signs of 

 mice were seen on Ushagat Island, in the Barren Island group, 

 but no specimens were obtained. 



In 1911, Wetmore found meadow mice to be scarce in the 

 places he visited at the west end of Alaska Peninsula. In 1925, I 

 found meadow mice to be fairly common on Unimak Island, but 

 I found them to be scarce on the mainland and almost unknown 

 in some localities. Specimens were obtained by finding limited 

 colonies here and there. These mice preferred grassy locations, 

 in contrast with the lemmings' choice of the mossy tundra, yet 

 an occasional group could be found on the mossy tundra living 

 in a stray patch of grass. In general, they were common about 

 lagoons and the grassy lowlands, and could be found among lava 

 rocks, particularly about the edge of rock masses, where grass 

 generally occurs. These mice were fond of the beaches and the 

 sand dunes, where the principal vegetation is the coarse wild 

 rye (Elymus). In grassy places, where the snow had recently 

 melted, the winter runways were conspicuous. The mice had a 

 liking for the banks of little gullies, where they had numerous 

 burrows — quite often, there were single burrows, at least there 

 was a single entrance with a little pile of excavated dirt. In the 

 sand dunes, the mice run about without well-defined runways; 

 they have routes of travel among the coarse grass stems, as 

 shown by their tracks, but the shifting sand prevents establish- 

 ment of permanent paths. 



On May 17, 1925, at St. Catherine Cove, several food caches 

 were found in the sand dunes, just out of reach of the tide. A 

 small external opening led into a tunnel that slanted downward 

 about 1 foot beneath the surface, to the stored food. In one case, 

 the cache consisted of about 17,560 seeds of beach sandwort, 

 Honckenya peploides, together with dried stems and fragments 

 of fruit capsules, and 403 large seeds of a composite, as well as 

 a trace of Elymus (bits of stem and leaves and fruit) . In another 

 cache, 2 feet distant, there were only undetermined roots — both 



