270 



NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



To many of the Eskimo, especially on the Arctic shores, this animal is of almo.st vital impor- 

 tance, and upon Saint Lawrence Island, jnst south of Bering Straits, over eight hundred Eskimo 

 died in one winter, owiug to their missing the fall Walrus hunt while on a prolonged carouse upon 

 whisky obtained from a whaling ship. 



To these northern people this animal furnishes material for many uses. Its flesh is food for 

 men and dogs; its oil is also used for food and for lighting and heating the houses. Its skin when 

 tanned and oiled makes a durable cover for their large skin boats; its intestines make waterproof 

 clothing, window-covers, and floats. Its tusks make lance or spear jjoints or are carved into a great 

 variety of useful and ornamental objects, and its bones are used to make heads for spears and other 

 Ijurposes. 



The middle of August, 1881, we spoke a Walrus-hunter on the edge of the pack, off Cape 

 Lisburne, and found that he was leaving the hunting ground, complaining that the pack-ice was so 

 thin that when a Wah'us was shot the blood from the wound thawed the ice, and caused the edge 

 to break, resulting in the loss of the game before its tusks could be cut out. 



The continual pursuit these animals have suffered during the past few seasons has rapidly 

 tliinned them out and, owiug to the restricted basin which they inhabit, it is only a matter of a few 

 years wlieu they will become comparatively rare where formerly abundant, and unknown in many 

 of their former localities. 



Today it is safe to say that the number of these animals in existence is not over 50 per cent, 

 of the number liviug ten years ago, and a heavy annual decrease is still going on. 



Sokes coopeei Bachman. Cooper's Shrew (Esk. U-gu'-gi-nuk). 



The identification of the shrews while the family is in its present confused condition is very 

 laborious, and the determinations are far from satisfactory. The specimens collected appear to 

 belong to Bachmau's 8. coojyeri. They present considerable difiereuces in proportions and colora- 

 tion, however, which may or may not be indicative of specific distinctness. In the following table 

 of alcoholic specimens it will be observed that number 1497G, though agreeing with the other four 

 specimens in the length of the feet, head, and tail, appears to be considerably larger (i. e., the head 

 and body taken together are longer). It should be observed, however, that this specimen appears 

 to have been compressed and thus elongated : 



List of specimens. 



Biographical notes. — This, the smallest of northern mammals, is found over all of the Alaskan 

 mainland and is abundant e\erywhere except i>erhaps along the extreme northern coast line. In 

 the Yukon district and about Saint JMiehaels I found that they were diflicult to discover in summer, 

 owing to their small size and retiring habits. 



In fall the first severe weather brings them about the tniding stations and native villages, and 

 there they forage and penetrate every corner of the houses with all the persistence of the domestic 

 mouse. Scores of them were killed about our houses at Saint Miclmels every winter, and they 



