MAMMALS. 



277 



So far as I was able to leani their habits are almost iilentical with those of ArricoJa, with 

 which they are associated. They lay up stores of roots for wiuter, cover the barren tundras with a 

 network of tunnel like passages, and are driven in severe seasons to find refuge and food about 

 the trading-posts and the native villages. They are found in about equal numbers with the arvi- 

 colas, and, like the latter, are omnivorous, and will destroy one another when coufiued together- 

 Ifone of these mice were obtained by the Point Barrow party, and the bleak barrens along the 

 extreme north coast are doubtless very rarely, if at all, frequented by them. 



Myodes obetmsis Brants. Lemming (Esk. Ki-lug-u-mi-u-tuk). 



List of speoimcDs. 



Biographical notes. — This hardy little animal ranges over all of the Alaskan mainland except 

 along the heavily-wooded northeastern extremity. They are found, also, more or less commonly 

 upon nearly or quite all of the Aleutian Islands, and are abundant upon Saint George Island, but 

 are unknown on Saint Paul, the adjacent and largest of the Fur Seal Islands. They are also found 

 on Nunevak, Saint Lawreuce, and the Bering Straits Islands. They are abundant on the penin- 

 sula of Aliaska, and thence north around the entire northern coast of the Territory. lu the interior 

 also they are found in all of the moss-covered open country forming the Arctic barrens or tundra. 

 Although numerous in most localities where the ground is sufdciently dry, thej' are particularly 

 abundant in some districts. Sanak and Saint George Islands are covered with a network of their 

 runways. Ou the mainland also scattered centers of abundance are found, but these vary from 

 year to year. Lemmings are inconspicuous and not often seen even when one is traveling over a 

 country where they are very numerous. At long intervals they appear in large numbers, making 

 one of their strange migrations, and are accompanied by hawks, owls, and various predatory mam- 

 mals, all uniting in the destructiou of the travelers. 



The Eskimo told me of an instance of this which took place not many years ago, and said 

 that the Snowy Owls were very abundant all the following wiuter, and nested very commonly 

 along the coast about Saint Michaels the following spring. Like the arvicolas the Lemmings lay 

 up stores of small bulbous roots for winter use. 



Several were brought me alive at Saint Michaels and were kept as pets for some time. They 

 were very amusing, inoffensive little creatures, and from the tirst allowed me to handle them freely 

 without attempting to bite. They were confined in a deep tin box and made almost incessant ef- 

 forts to escape. Whenever I extended one linger near the bottom of their box they would stand 

 erect on their hind legs and try to reach it with their fore-paws. If successful they would climb up 

 into my hand, and from it to my shoulder without a sign of haste or fear, but with odd curiosity 

 kept their noses eoutiuually sniffing and peered at everything with their bright bead-like eyes. 

 They were very expert in walking upon their hind legs, taking short steps and remaining erect a 

 considerable length of time if anything above their heads interested them. I often held my finger 

 just out of their reach and they would stand up, and in trying to reach it would make little leaps 

 up, .sometimes clearing the floor half an inch. 



When eating they held their food in their fore-paws. Like the arvicolas they are omnivorous, 

 and in wiuter frequently come about the houses. The Eskimo children use their skins for doll 

 clothing and blankets. On the islands of Bering Straits their skins were particularly numerous 

 among the children. 



This species is abundant about Point Barrow and along the most barren parts of the Arctic 

 coast of the Territory. 



