1924] Swarth: Birds and Mammals of the Skeena River Region 377 



erected, and wherever a eahin is built the Avood rats take prompt 

 possession. Where they come from is not evident, their natural 

 habitations in the poplar woods not being visible, but they are 

 abundant enough to be a decided nuisance. 



Synaptomys borealis dalli Merriam. Dall Lemming Mouse 



One specimen (no. 32641) was trapped in a Phenacomys runway 

 at the summit of Nine-mile Mountain (5500 feet altitude), on August 

 10. Synaptomys andersoni was described from the interior of British 

 Columbia to the northward of this regon (Allen, 1903, p. 554) , and 

 S. chapmani from the Selkirk Range of southern British Columbia 

 (Allen, 1903, p. 555), but there probably is not sufficient material 

 extant anywhere to determine the validity of these species. The one 

 lemming mouse at hand from Nine-mile Mountain did not seem to me 

 sufficiently different from the specimens of daili in the collection oi! 

 the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology to justify the use of another name. 

 Mr. A. Brazier Howell, to whom I forwarded the specimen, making 

 comparison with more extensive series in the United States National 

 Museum, came to the same conclusion. 



Phenacomys intermedins Merriam. Kamloops Phenacomys 



On the summit of Nine-mile Mountain the extensive masses of false 

 heather {Cassiope mertensiana) were in places criss-crossed with well 

 defined runways much like meadow-mouse paths in appearance. These 

 runways occurred at scattered intervals, usually in patches of cassiope 

 that were greener than elsewhere, as about the edges of snow banks 

 or little lakes, and they favored also places Avhere there were breaks 

 in the ground, such as a little earth bank or some protniding rocks. 

 They connected tiny holes that ran back into the ground or under 

 rocks; here and there round nests were found, eight or ten inches in 

 diameter, made of soft grass and moss, and not unlike birds' nests in 

 appearance. At intervals there were piles of faeces, in extraordinary 

 amount. Fresh faeces and green cuttings of gra.ss and cassiope were 

 evidence that the runways were in use, but trapping brought meager 

 results. One Phenacomys, one Synaptomys, and one Evotomys was 

 the sum total of two weeks' trapping. The runways I took to be the 

 work of Phenacomys, for I had never found similar trails elsewhere 

 where I had trapped the other two species that were taken here. 



