1922] Swarth: Birds and Mammals of the Stikine Region 179 



Ondatra zibethica spatulata (Osgood). Northwestern Muskrat 

 Taken at but one point, on Sergief Island. Six specimens were 

 taken (nos. 30996-31001), on September 3, 4 and 5, of which three 

 are adult and three young. Of one the skin was subsequently lost, 

 leaving the specimen represented by a skull only. The muskrats fre- 

 quented a series of little ponds just above the reach of the tides, where 

 the grasses of the salt marsh gave place to clusters of reeds and thickets 

 of alder and willow. These ponds were connected by well trodden trails 

 through the grass, like large Microtus runways, paths that could be 



Fig. W. Marsh at western end of Sergief Island, Alaska. The roeky back- 

 bone of the island, densely covered with spruce, rises abruptly from the sur- 

 rounding swamps. At the base of this slope is a bordering fringe of bushes, 

 mostly alder, red-berry elder and willow, with, underneath, tangles of salmon- 

 berry and devil's club. The marshes farthest inland, as here shown, are mostly 

 of fresh water, with growths of tules and other fresh-water plants. This pond 

 and others nearby were frequented by muskrats. The surface of this pond was 

 in part covered with floating tules that had been recently cut by these mam- 

 mals. Birds seen in such surroundings were green-winged teal, pintail, mallard, 

 pectoral sandpiper, and Wilson snipe. Black swifts were seen almost daily 

 soaring over this marsh. Photograph taken September 5, 1919. 



traced in the muddy bottom of shallow water and even across the 

 deeper ponds, for the line of travel parted the floating moss and other 

 aquatic vegetation and left just as distinctly marked a highway in 

 the water as elsewhere. All along these trails there were signs of 

 muskrat activities, masses of cut reeds floating in the ponds, and piles 

 of coarse grass and other vegetation in the drier places. There were 



