MAMMALS. 

 PuTORius ERMiNEA (Liuu.). Eiuiine *(Esk. AlhlhiMiih,. 



245 



A very good series of skius of tbis species was obtained, the majority iii the wiuter coat. A 

 male, No. 13902, taken at Saint Michaels in September, is still in the summer coat. A second male, 

 taken October 9, i.s in the transitional stage; the upper surfaces are still brown, though pale, 

 especially on the legs. 



No skulls were obtained. 



List of specimens. 



Biographical notes. — This pretty animal is more or less numerous over all of the Alaskan main- 

 land and on the islands adjacent to the coast. The islands of Bering Straits, !Nunevak, the eastern- 

 most of the Aleutians, and most of the islands of Southeast Alaska are inhabited by them. 

 Although not very common in some localities, in others they may be classed as abundant. Their 

 numbers in a district depend largely upon the abundance of mice and lemmings, upon which 

 they prey. They appear to have a preference for a partly-wooded country, and in the district 

 back from the head of Kotzebue Sound and about Anvik, on the Lower Yukon, they are more 

 numerous than elsewhere. 



Although showing a slight preference for semi-wooded country they are ftir from rare on the 

 barren open coast belt bordering the Arctic and Bering Sea, where they find shelter among rocky 

 ledges. 



They winter at the extreme northern limit of the mainland and appear to be affected but 

 little by the cold so long as their food-supply continues to hold out. In winter they frequently 

 come about the native villages, attracted by the abundance of mice there at that season. At Saint 

 Michaels they were often quartered about the warehouses, where the mice congregated to feed 

 upon the flour stored thei-e. 



The great swiftness and iDrowess of this animal, as exhibited in its habits and the success with 

 which it sometimes attacks and destroys such disproportionately large animals as the white 

 ptarmigan or the northern rabbit, has had a remarkable effect upon the native mind. The 

 Eskimo look upon it with an almost superstitious fear. Its skin is often worn by them as a kind 

 of fetich and it figures iu their mythology. It is an important totem and is thought to bring 

 success in the chase to those fiivored by it. 



