PiNTAil. AND Spectacled Eider, Anas acuta (see pp. 37, 170) and Lampronetta 



Ascheri (see pp. 35, 168). 



5. Status and Distribution 



Tnterior aectic Alaska has been comparatively little changed by 

 ■*■ its human occupants, for until the last few years it has been subjected 

 only to aboriginal methods of exploitation. In modern times, how- 

 ever, in those parts of Alaska where the search for gold has been carried 

 out, the application of water and mechanical power has caused in- 

 tensive unnatural erosion. Forests near the mining operations have 

 been destroyed by lumbering, clearing, and fire, and the invading 

 population has added greatly to the aboriginal use of game. Along 

 the arctic coast whaling, the fur trade, and reindeer grazing have 

 intensively removed natural products that earlier had been sparingly 

 utilized by the aboriginal inhabitants. As a result these areas have 

 been visibly changed. 



The tundra of the arctic interior has been less affected by civili- 

 zation than the coast or the forest, but we can nevertheless record the 

 total disappearance of the musk ox and Eskimo curlew as indications 



245 



