"In the nest were two red-backed mice, Clethrionomys gapperi, one of which had the base of its skull eaten out. No hair had been removed from either of them, but a Microtus lying in a side tunnel some feet away had the long hair plucked from its back and sides. In and close about the nest were found forty-three front parts of mice skulls which had evidently been discarded because of the sharp teeth in the maxillaries. Seven full stomachs and eleven hind feet of adult Microtus with parts of leg bones were disclosed in, or under, the weasel's bed and a few small bits of skin with hair attached were scattered among the plucked hair of the nest.
"This weasel seems to have been rather remiss in its sanitary habits as its pile of dung was almost, or quite, touching the nest and only just to the side of its entrance. It was composed of 117 voids all of which contained much hair and broken bone.
"Six other mouse nests found in the same stack, or others adjoining it, had been thinly lined with hair. One of these had two mice in it, a red-backed with its brain eaten out and a Microtus with some hair plucked from its neck. Another nest contained the front part of a skull with teeth and the hind feet and tail of a red-back. Besides the mice found in the nests seven others were discovered tucked away in side tunnels. One of these mice had most of the hair plucked from its back. Whether all these mice and nests belonged to the same weasel or not I am unable to say, but it is usual for them to have several nests in the area surrounding the one that is used as their headquarters or home."
Mustela rixosa eskimo (Stone)
Least Weasel
Putorius rixosus eskimo Stone, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1900:44, March 24, 1900.
Putorius (Gale) vulgaris, Coues, Fur-bearing animals, p. 102, 1877 (part).
Putorius rixosus, Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 10:21, February 25, 1896 (part); Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 11:14, June 30, 1896 (part).
Mustela rixosa eskimo, Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 79:96, December 31, 1912; Swenk, Journ. Mamm., 7:327, November 23, 1926; Hall, Univ. California Publ. Zoöl., 30:421, March 19, 1929.
Type.—Female, age in question, no. 848 in Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia; Point Barrow, Alaska; July 25, 1898; obtained by E. A. McIlhenny. Type not seen by me.
Range.—Alaska and Yukon Territory. See figure [28] on page [180].
Characters for ready recognition.—Differs from M. r. pygmaea of eastern Asia in longer tail, averaging 11 rather than 16 per cent of length of head and body, and in study skins reaching only to heel instead of to point between heel and toes; from M. r. rixosa in shorter tail averaging 16 rather than 19 per cent of length of head and body and not extending beyond outstretched hind feet in study skins; white of underparts extending dorsally as a reëntrant angle from upper lip to behind eye, rather than delimited dorsally by a boundary between white and brown color that extends straight across cheeks from upper lip to side of body well below eye and ear; breadth of rostrum measured across lacrimal processes more, instead of less, than 85.5 per cent of orbitonasal length; from M. erminea of same region by basilar length of skull less than 32; tail less than 50 and lacking black pencil.
Description.—Size.—Male: The original describer lists measurements of topotypes as follows: Total length, 204, 230; length of tail, 28, 31; length of hind foot, 20, 22. Allowing 5 per cent for shrinkage, the hind feet of 5 topotypes yield an average measurement of 23 for the hind foot.
Female: Measurements of two topotypes are: Total length, 184, 180; length of tail, 25, 25; length of hind foot, 24, 18. In four other topotypes the hind feet, allowing 5 per cent for shrinkage, yield an average of 21.
Color.—Winter pelage all white, rarely with few white hairs in tip of tail but no black pencil; summer pelage with upper parts about Raw Umber and tone 3 of Chocolate pl. 343 of Oberthür and Dauthenay; underparts white, extending over upper lip, insides of limbs and over all four feet. Line of demarcation between underparts and upper parts extends from upper lip posterodorsally to behind eye down to base of ear, up behind ear for a third or more of its height, and back along side of body. Tail unicolor all around and same color as upper parts. Least width of color of underparts averaging 83 per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts.
Skull.—Based on topotypes; see measurements and plates [14] and [15]; weight, 0.82 (0.74-0.93) grams in males, and 0.80 and 0.84 in two females; basilar length, 29.5 (27.6-30.1) in males and 27.8 (27.1-28.8) in females; otherwise as described in M. e. richardsonii.
Remarks.—Among the earliest specimens preserved was one by Edward W. Nelson in the course of his explorations of the Upper Yukon, and one in 1874 by L. T. Turner from St. Michaels, Alaska. Bangs, in 1896 (p. 22) mentioned the occurrence of the species in Alaska, but it was not until 1900 (p. 44) that Stone named the subspecies, and then principally on the basis of specimens obtained two years before by E. A. McIlhenny.