g2 A. L. V. Manniche. 



drift; when the latter is not too large in extent however, the animal 

 will content itself Avith one hole which is disposed as far as possible 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of the mountain wall or heap of 

 stones, wehere the proper dwelling of the ermine is hidden. The 

 holes made by the ermine in the snow are always considerably 

 larger than those of the lemming. 



Until the ptarmigan makes its appearance towards the middle 

 of February, the wanderings of the ermine above the ground are 

 mostly confined to the short stretch from the dwelling to the hole, 

 through which it descends, and vice versa, and weeks may pass 

 away without its leaving any traces elsewhere. 



The hair covering of the ermine being much less adapted to 

 the severe cold of winter, than that of any other arctic terrestrial 

 mammal, the animal would fare very badly, if it were to remain 

 in the open air for a longer time during the coldest season of the 

 year. 



As a proof of the animal's want of capacity to resist the cold, 

 the following observation may be stated. 



On April 24*h 1907 I placed on the northwestern slope of 

 Thermometerfjeldet an ermine trap — a square box of deal-wood, 

 110 cm. long, 20 cm. broad, with a dead ptarmigan for a bait. When 

 I came to look at the trap 24 hours later, it contained an ermine 

 in full winter dress, frozen to death. The animal was lying in a 

 tightly roUed-up position, covered with ptarmigan feathers which it 

 had plucked out most carefully, making a globular bed for itself. 

 About one third of the ptarmigan was devoured. The lowest tem- 

 perature of the night had been -f- 18°; it had been blowing rather 

 hard in the night however, and some snow had drifted together and 

 was accumulated all around and on the top of the trap, the latter 

 being yet free from snow in one end which was only closed by an 

 iron grating. 



In a similar trap ! found on March 18*^ 1908 an ermine in 

 winter dress, likewise frozen to death. Even this animal had been 

 sitting in the trap for about 24 hours, yet surely under far more 

 severe conditions than the above mentioned specimen, the tempera- 

 ture being in this last case about -f- 30°, but without any wind. As 

 a bait I had this time used a hard frozen rat which was lying quite 

 untouched, without having been able to afford the imprisoned er- 

 mine the least shelter against the cold. A polar hare or arctic fox 

 would have been able to sustain life for a long time under similar 

 conditions, supposing of course that the animals had been provided 

 with sufficient food during their imprisonment. 



Gradually as the sun appears over the horizon and the passage 



