66 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
ow-mice 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 HE. 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. 
