THE SMALL NEIGHBORS OF BIG GAME 303 



fire, a Pack-Rat tried to steal his cap from his head. It 

 is really strange that the Pack-Rat of the British Colum- 

 bia mountains is just as mischievous and ingenious as his 

 brethren in the Florida pine woods, nearly 3,000 miles 

 away. The northwestern animal secretes a very disagree- 

 able odor, which is emitted under excitement, perhaps in 

 the line of self-defence. 



The Hoary Marmot, or Whistler * was constantly 

 looked for, and expected, but seen only once on the entire 

 trip, I saw one run out of sight around a spur-root of a 

 mountain, just below timberline, as hurriedly as if he 

 knew there were guns about. This creature is merely 

 an over-grown, grizzly-gray, mountain woodchuck, who 

 is so careful of himself that it is practically impossible 

 to procure living specimens at a sum even remotely corre- 

 sponding to their exhibition value. Several men have 

 endeavored to catch specimens for us at $15 each, but 

 thus far not one has been taken on that basis. 



The Snow-Shoe Rabbit must be counted with the 

 small mountain-dwellers of the Order Glires (Rodents), 

 but they were so rare that I did not see even one specimen. 

 Mr. Phillips saw one, at the big bend of Avalanche 

 Creek, on Roth Mountain. Their great rarity is probably 

 due to the martens, lynxes and wolverines. As those 

 fierce fur-bearers disappear via the trap line, all the 

 rodents of the mountains should become more abundant. 



Of all the carnivorous animals (Order Ferte) inhab- 

 iting the region which was ours for a month, the Grizzly 

 Bear, or Silver-Tip, stands first; and he has already been 



* Arc-to'mys pru-i-no'sus. 



