60 RINGED,, AND HUDSON^ BAY RAT. 
sake of air. In these retreats they are eagerly 
pursued by the Arctic foxes. 
They make also very shallow burrows under the 
v turf ; but do not form any magazines for winter 
provision ; by this improvidence; it seems; they are 
compelled to migrate., urged by hunger to quit 
their usual residence. 
They are the prey of foxes; lynxes, and ermines, 
who follow them in great numbers. In former 
times, the priests exorcised them in a long set form 
of prayer. 
Ringed rat. 
Tiie ringed rat has a blunt nose ; ears hid in its 
fur legs strong and short ; soles covered with 
hair ; claws very strong, and hooked at the end, 
and very fine hair all over the body ; of a ferru- 
ginous colour, mixed with yellow ; sometimes 
pale grey, clouded, or waved with a dusky rust 
colour. From the ears, down each side of the 
head, there is a dusky space ; and behind that, a 
stripe of white ; so that the neck appears to he 
encircled with a collar ; behind which there is 
another dusky one. The body is three inches long ; 
the tail one. At its end there is a tuft of hard 
bristles. It inhabits the northern parts about the 
Oby ; burrows with many passages beneath the 
turfy soil ; and lines its nest with rein-deer and 
snow liverwort. They are said to migrate at the 
same seasons with the lemmas. 
Hudson’s bay rat. 
The Hudson’s Bay rat has slender brow n whis- 
kers ; very fine, long, soft hair ; ash, tinged with 
tawny, on the back, with a dusky stripe running 
along its middle ; and along each side a pale 
