64 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



Similar plagues have occurred all over the world where 

 voles exist ; nor are they limited to voles. I have seen 

 thousands of prairie hares scattered all over the landscape 

 in a dead or dying condition after a period of increase 

 which flooded the country with them, to be followed by 

 Nature's inevitable remedy for reducing the stock to 

 normal numbers — disease. In this case not only owls 

 (great horned), but foxes, weasels, lynxs, and birds of 

 prey of many varieties thronged in millions to feed on 

 the hares. Thus, when disease comes along, a time of 

 general hardship follows. The lynxs and foxes pack, 

 seeking some far-off hunting range, the weasels simply 

 disappear, and those who have wings to fly, flee to some 

 distant land. 



On the Alaska boundary my companion and I, travelling 

 in unsurveyed territory, came across a small lake one 

 evening, the opposite shore (leeward) of which we noticed 

 to be lined with a ridge of scintillating white substance, 

 which we took to be horsefroth. But on crossing the lake 

 we saw that the whole surface was covered with a species 

 of fish midway between the carp and the grayling — 

 probably an unclassified species. The fish were moving 

 sluggishly in circles, or lying belly upwards on the 

 surface, apparently dead, though immediately one was 

 touched with a paddle it would shoot off or sink. Others 

 were dead, and on going to the leeward side we saw 

 that the white ridge consisted of thousands of dead fish 

 of all sizes, while the stench was unbearable. Bears and 

 various other animals were visiting the shore in droves 

 in order to feed on the mass of carrion. 



Here, then, among the finny denizens, was a case 

 exactly analogous to the hare plagues of the prairies 

 and to the mouse plague of the Borders, and in every 

 case the news spreads far and wide to call in the 

 hunters. 



