

ON THE MAMMALIA OF THIS DISTRICT. 233 



river side, and saw scores of dead lemming, 

 which had evidently perished in the winter's snow. 

 On May 3rd I got three specimens killed to the 

 south of Quickiock, and after this they began to 

 appear in such numbers that by May 15th I had 

 obtained nearly five hundred skins. These all seemed 

 to come up from the south, and to be heading to the 

 fells. The whole country now swarmed with them. 

 It was my impression that they had been frozen up 

 in the neighbourhood all the winter ; that many 

 had perished under the snow, and those which we 

 saw were the survivors making their way back to 

 their native home on the northern fells. This im- 

 pression was confirmed by seeing, when the snow 

 went, their runs in every direction in the forests 

 and meadows round Quickiock ; and large heaps 

 of dung marked their resting-places. They re- 

 mained in the open for about three weeks, living 

 under tussocks of grass, old logs, heaps of rubbish, 

 cracks in the river bank in fact, wherever shelter 

 was to be obtained. But by the end of May they 

 had all retired into the forests, and about two 

 weeks after this the lower fells swarmed with them. 

 They did not, however, all leave the forests, for 

 during the whole summer the woods were full of 

 them, and they bred there; for about the first 

 week in July some of the young were more than 

 half-grown, while some females were heavy with 



