282 NATUKAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS I^" ALASKA. 



various ways. Many tbousaiids of tliem are killed each year to supply the demand, but their 

 uumbers do not appear to le.ssen. Their skins are an important article of intertribal barter. 



When the snow is nearly gone — toward the end of May, and sometimes earlier — they come out 

 of their holes and run about over the snow until it is covered with a network of runways. At 

 this time the hunters snare them in great numbers by meansof a strong green stickoneend of which 

 is planted firmly in the snow and the other bent over and fastened by means of a trigger and sinew 

 noose. The noose is stretched across the runway and the first passing marmot gets his head into 

 it, springs the trigger, and is swung into the air, where he remains until the hunter makes his 

 round. Each trapper has many of these snares, and on some days many marmots are taken. 



When these animals first come out of their burrows in spring their fur is full, soft, and of a 

 clear grayish cast, but exposure to the glare of the sun and snow bleaches it so rapidly that in 

 ten days, or thereabouts, it becomes a dingy reddish brown and is very harsh and brittle. 



In the summer of 18SI I found them abundant on the hills overlooking the Arctic Ocean from 

 Kotzebue Sound to Cajte Lisburue, and Jlurdocb found them at Point Barrow. Their habits are 

 similar to those of their allies farther south. They burrow in colonies on the hill-sides and rarely 

 wander far from home, but always appear ready to dive into the shelter of the earth at the first 

 alarm. They are also abundant upon the Siberian side of Bering Straits, and upon the hill where 

 we planted our flag on Wrangel Island were many of their burrows. They are found at intervals 

 throughout the interior, always frequenting bare, open hill-sides and never occupying wooded 

 places. Their distribution in the interior is as irregular as it is on the coast, and large districts 

 may not have an individual in it while an adjacent district swarms with them. There are none 

 about Saint Michaels or the Yukon delta. 



Akctomys pruinosus Gmeliu. Hoary Marmot, Whistler. 



Biographical notes.— The fur traders brought me a few skins of this species from the L'pper 

 Y'ukcn, where they are rather conimon. They were reported to frequent rocky and rather hilly or 

 mountainous country along the headwaters of the Yukon, and are fond of basking on jutting 

 ledges over streams. 



The fur traders call them "whistlers" from their habit of uttering a shrill whistle when 

 alarmed. The natives of the Kuskoquim Valley obtain many of their skins from the Alaskan 

 range, where they report them to be abundant. 



The Whistler is found in these mountains nearly to the coast of Bering Sea, but does not 

 elsewhere approach the coast north of the peninsula of Aliaska. At Kotzebue Sound I saw a 

 great many of their skins made up into clothing and worn by the Eskimo from the headwaters 

 of the Kowak and Nunatog Eivers. These people reported them to be abundant there among the 

 hills in about latitude 68°. 



Ovis CANADENSIS DALLi Xelsoii. Dall's Mountain Sheep (Esk. PJt-niil). 



This variety of the Mountain Sheep was described by Mr. Nelson in the Proceedings of the 

 National Museum, vii, 1884, p. 12, under the name of Ovis montana dalU. It appears, however, as 

 has been recently pointed out, that Shaw's name, 0. canademh, which was used in 1802, has prece- 

 dence over Cuvier's 0. montana, and necessarily supplants the latter. The trinomial proper to 

 Dall's sheep is, therefore, 0. canadensis dalli. Mr. Nelson's diagnosis (I. c.) is as follows : 



This form can be recognized at once by its nearly imiform dirty-white color, the light-colored rump area seen 

 in typical montana being entirely uniform with the rest of the body in ctalli. The dingiuess of the white over the 

 entire body and limbs .appears to be almost entirely due to tho ends of the hairs being commonly tipped with a dull 

 rusty speck. On close esaminatiou this tipping of the hairs makes the fur look as though it had been slightly singed. 

 This form also has smaller horus than its southern relatives, but how the two compare in general size and weight I 

 am uuable to s«y. 



Eegarding the size of the two varieties it is now possible to offer some facts. The specimens 

 of Dall's sheep in the present collection are the mounted skins of a male and female. There are 

 additional siiecimens in the Museum collection, from the Cliismit Mountains, collected bv the late 



