News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-12-16
MIGRATION OF THE LEMMlNGS.
One of the Wonders of the Natural World

Once in about every twenty-five years
Norway and Sweden are the scene of
migration which is one of the wonders
o. the natural world The participants
in this movement are the Tat-like crea-
lures, called popularity Jennings, and
scientifically Ng0des lemnaus. The lem
ming is not more than six inches long,
including half inch tail, and individ-
ually is no more interesting than a
thousand other animals, but collectively
1t challenges attention.
1t lives ordinarily among the peat
MOSES of the mountains, and although
the principal food of all the predacious
animals of that region, it continues to
increase so rapidly in numbers that by
the time the migratory movement takes
place the mountains fairly swarm with
its congregated families. From near
and from far the jennings come, led by
a restless impulse, and after forming an
immense army on some great plateau,
start east or west, as the case may be,
and in an undertaking line march for
ward. Hills, valleys, lakes, rivers are
crossed with an utter disregard to the
havoc made in their ranks by death.
1t is a sad time for the farmer, for
when the living torrent pours over
cultivated section it spreads and lin9ers
till everything eatable is gone, in the
meantime br nging forth young in great
numbers and with unusual rapid ty, SO
that despite all the numerous causes of
destruction that follow or await it, the
terrible army actually increases in size
during its onward march Besides the
rivers and lakes, which swallow up
great multitudes, prolific source of
death is found in the various animals of
the country. Carnivorous beasts and
birds, such as wolves, foxes, wild cats,
the various members of the weasel fam
lily, eagles, hawks, and owls, follow the
moving army with wild cries and lnsa-
table gluttony. This is quite natural,
perhaps, but what is extraordinary,
many herbivorous animals seem to be
driven to fury by the invasion of the
little creatures, and DESERVING their or
binary food, rush among the Jennings,
and not only stamp them to death, but
use their teeth for the same purpose,
and even eat the flesh. Reindeer and
COWS are prominent in this deadly en-
ploy emit; while man, with his house
hold pets the cat and the dog, eXerts
himself in the same destructive work.
Still the stream pours on, never dew
iating from the course first laid out,
filling the air with vile odors and max
ing the earth loathsome. For three
years this terrible scourge afflicts he
land, resisting all efforts to turn it or
conquer it. and covering with desolation
every spot it visits, until at last the At
lantic Ocean or the Gulf of BothnIa in
terposes its impossible waters. Does it
then turn back? No. With the same
frightful disregard of consequences which
has characterized the infatuated creature
from the outset, the whole army, with
eager haste, plunge into the waves, and
there ends the migration
What is the cause of this extraordinary
fact! NOBODY knows. The most
plausible theory vet advanced says that
the vast increase in numbers of the lem
ming in its mountain home creates
scarcity of food. Hunger arouses the
desire to seek for food elsewhere, and a
movement once made, a long dormant
instinct of migration, which most ami
mails possess, forces it to continue its
OnH ard march with unreasoning and
fatal persistency. CLAUS Magnus and
some other writers have suggested that
the Jennings are a scourge rained down
from heaven, but there are several fairly
good reasons for not accepting this
theory.