324 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



M/cro/us pennsylvanicus: Meadow Mouse 

 Microtus pennsylvanicus drummondii 



This form of meadow mouse barely enters the area here under 

 discussion. There are specimens in the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 collection from Lake Clark, Kakhtul River, and Nushagak. 

 Probably, the Drummond meadow mouse does not range much 

 farther west than the base of Alaska Peninsula. 



Ondatra zibethicus: Muskrat 

 Ondatra zibethicus zalophus 



Muskrats are common in the Bristol Bay region and the eastern 

 part of Alaska Peninsula. Specimens have been taken in many 

 localities of this area, including one as far west as Ugashik, which 

 was obtained by C. L. McKay in 1881. There is a series of 

 specimens in the Fish and Wildlife Service collection from 

 Becharof Lake, including the type. In 1925, I was told by resi- 

 dents of False Pass that muskrats are not found farther west than 

 Port Moller, the implication being that they do occur in that 

 locality. This is not supported by specimens at present. 



Stevenson reported that L. A. Levigne, "a few years ago" (be- 

 fore 1920), brought some muskrats to Unalaska and turned 

 them loose in a fresh-water pond near Captain's Harbor. "They 

 were observed the next spring but have not been seen since, may 

 have starved, or possibly have migrated to some other location." 



About 1925, the Alaska Game Commission introduced musk- 

 rats on the Kodiak-Afognak group of islands, and they have 

 become established. Scheffer obtained three specimens on Afognak 

 Island in 1938. 



Apparently there are no muskrats on Nunivak Island, in Bering 

 Sea, and the distribution here recorded suggests that muskrats 

 require a habitat that is associated with vegetation found in, or 

 near, forested areas. They do not thrive on islands or other areas 

 where the vegetation is low to the ground. 



Family MURIDAE 



Mus musculus: House Mouse 

 Mus musculus domesticus 



Presumably, the house mouse has been introduced in most of 

 the settlements of southwestern Alaska, and we made no particu- 

 lar effort to study its distribution. In the Aleutian Islands proper, 

 where native rodents are nearly always absent, exotic introduc- 



