326 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



narcissiflora, much in the manner of ground squirrels on Unalaska 

 and Kavalga Islands. 



On Rat Island, these rodents were confined to the beaches in, 

 or near, the fringe of heavy vegetation. They found a convenient 

 refuge among the boulders on the beach and proved to be 

 extremely wary. The interior of this island supports a very short 

 type of vegetation, not at all suitable for cover — hence the choice 

 of the shoreline by the rats. 



To what extent blue foxes prey on rats is not certain. These 

 rodents are extremely wary and alert, and the foxes may not find 

 them easy hunting. Bald eagles get an occasional one, but rats 

 had tunneled into the peatlike foundations of two eagle's nests on 

 rock pinnacles on Rat Island and were living there below while 

 the eagles were raising their young. 



On one occasion, a short-eared owl had appeared at Atka 

 Island, far out of the range of native rodents, and it was promptly 

 shot. When we found the remains about a year later, in 1936, we 

 were able to determine that the stomach contained parts of a rat. 



Family ZAPODIDAE 



Zapus hudsonius: Jumping Mouse 

 Zapus hudsonius alascensis 



Jumping mice occur throughout the length of Alaska Peninsula. 

 There are specimens from Lake Aleknagik, Chulitna River, Lake 

 Clark, Lake Iliamna, Kokwok, Nushagak, Chignik, Frosty Peak, 

 and Izembek Bay. 



I obtained a male specimen at Izembek Bay on June 23, 1925, in 

 the grass at the edge of a pond. At that time, I learned that 

 jumping mice are found on Unimak Island. Several people had 

 observed them there; 1 man, in the course of some excavatidn 

 work, caught 4 of them. Harry Wilson, on Ikatan Peninsula, had 

 one of these mice in a tin can, but when I arrived there a few days 

 later, the mouse had escaped. In 1941, Beals and Longworth 

 reported that Nick Kristensen had found one of these mice at his 

 house at False Pass, where several others had drowned in a shal- 

 low dug well, and Arthur Neuman had reported them as being 

 plentiful about Ikatan Village several years previously. In these 

 instances, though no specimens were obtained, the mouse is 

 easily identified, and there is no reason to doubt the reports. 

 Therefore, we may conclude that Unimak Island is occupied by 

 Zapus. 



