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Pied Lemming
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- Length
- 6 inches.
- Range
- Barren Grounds of Arctic America from Labrador to Alaska.
Description, Summer. Gray above, more or less dappled with rusty red and with a black line down the back, below dull gray tinged with rusty. Winter, nearly pure white. The most extraordinary peculiarity of this animal is the enormous development of the nails on the two middle toes of the front feet. They are square or rather club-shaped at the end and fully a quarter of an inch in length.
The name lemming is usually associated with the Arctic regions or with the barren mountains of Norway, in which latter locality the term originated. While it is true that most lemmings are found in these regions, it is also true that so far as structural peculiarities go, the lemming mice which have just been considered are quite as much lemmings as their Arctic allies, but it is hard to draw a distinction between the lemmings and meadow mice, so perfectly do they grade into one another.
The pied lemming lives in burrows in the beds of moss and lichens which cover the northern tundra and feeds solely on vegetable matter. They seem like other species of lemmings to be subject to great variation in abundance from year to year, and in localities where they abound the snow owls are also plentiful, nesting close to the haunts of the lemmings, which in such cases constitute their sole food.
So far as we know, however, the lemmings of Arctic America are not subject to such well-marked migrations as characterize those of Norway, where probably from overcrowding and consequent scarcity of food there often occurs a great exodus to some other locality. Dr. Coues says of their migration: "Nothing can stop them; they proceed straight on in their course, urged by some restless impulse, swimming broad rivers and lakes and invading towns which may lie in their way."
As to their habits Mr. E. W. Nelson states that some captive Alaskan lemmings were amusing, inoffensive little creatures and from the first allowed themselves to be handled without attempting to bite. "They would climb up into my hand and from it to my shoulder without a sign of haste or fear, but with odd curiosity, kept their noses continually sniffing and peered at everything with their bright bead-like eyes. When eating they held their food in their fore paws."
The change of colour in winter and summer is accomplished by a complete spring and fall moult of the hair, the white coat being much longer and heavier.
In Alaska there occurs another lemming (Lemmus trimucronatus) which is of a rusty colour and never changes white in winter.