66 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



ow-rnice are active all winter not hibernating, 

 but gathering food from day to day and wan- 

 dering widely. Yet in the far North the climate 

 has compelled habits of winter provision in the 

 tundra vole (Microtus operarius) which is 

 small, inhabits the mossy tundras of western 

 Alaska, and gathers stores of small bulbous 

 roots, sometimes placing a peck or more in a 

 single cavity just below the surface on a mossy 

 knoll or slope. In autumn, shortly before the 

 first snowfall, the Eskimo women and children 

 discover these stores by means of pointed 

 sticks. In this way considerable quantities of 

 food are gathered, which are boiled and eaten 

 as a delicacy. "The boiled roots have a flavor 

 like a boiled unripe sweet potato, and are very 

 palatable during the long winter fare of meat 

 and fish," according to E. W. Nelson. 



Damage from murine voracity. Complaints 

 of damage to meadows and pastures have been 

 steadily increasing, with occasional reports of 

 the total ruin of a red-clover field. More grass 

 is cut down and left than -is eaten. In winter, 

 haystacks are attacked and sometimes so rid- 

 dled as to be spoiled for market. 



