82 LULEAN LAPLAND. 



part of Lapland, and returned by water 

 from Hyttan towards Lulea. 



Tlie White, or Mountain, Fox {Cams la- 

 gopus)\\\es among the alps, feeding on the 

 Lemming Rat or Red Mouse, [Mus Lem- 

 mus.) as well as on the Ptarmigan (Tetrao 

 Lagopus). This White Fox is smaller than 

 the common kind. The Ptarmigan, which 

 the Laplanders call C/ieru7ia, feeds on the 

 Dwarf Birch (Betula nana), which for that 

 reason is called Ryprijs, or Ptarmigan-bush. 

 At night this bird lies squat upon the snow, 

 in the same posture as the Wood Grous 

 (Tetrao Urogallus, see vol. 1. 179) - henca 

 a great deal of its dung is seen in the prints 

 it makes in the snow. This mode of roost- 

 ing renders the Ptarmigan an easy prey to 

 the Fox. 



The Lemming or Red Mouse, see^. 18, 

 {Mus Lemmus,) in some seasons entirely 

 overruns the country ; devouring the corn 

 and grass: but though these animals thus^ 

 occasionally appear by millions at a time, 

 they subsequently depart and disappear as 

 unaccountably, so that nobody knows what 



