The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-03-18
IT IS LEMMING YEAR
NORWAY UNDERGOING an AWFUL
AND MYSTERIOUS PLAGUE

Arctic Mountain Tops and are Headed
for the Sea Devastating Everything in
Their Pathway-Know No Fear and At
tack Both Man and Feast GIadIy-AIso
Crawl Down BootIegs and Bite the
Norsemau's shins-DescriptIon of the
Pest.
Christiana, Norway, March lit is
iemand aar, fleming year." in the dis
demand arr 'lemming year" in the dis
there could hardly wall more dismally
If the plaques Of Egypt were upon them
The cause of all this woe, the terrible
Norwegian lemming, is an apparently
insignificant little creature very like
q diminutive guinea pig. He is about
five inches long and is covered with
orange-brown fur handsomely marked
with darker brown and black. His head
is small and round, the muzzle blunt,
the ears short and hidden under the
fur, the eyes bright and beady. his
tail is very short, his legs are stocky'
and his fore paws are armed with sharp
claws especially adapted TO scratching
and digging. s. much for appearance
As TO his habits, mo one" says crotch
writing for the Linnaean society mas
ever claimed to have seen lemming
at home" 1t is supposed that, south
of the arctic circle, and under ordi-
nary circumstances, they live IN sepa-
rate pairs scattered at considerable in
tervaIs over the high plateaus above
the range Of conifers though descend
ing in Tromso and in Finmarken near
iy to the level of the sea; that in their
nests, which are hidden under stones
and tussocks of grass and are built or
short dry straws with sometimes a I'm
ing OF their own fur, they raise, ord2n2-
rily, two or more families annually
NUMBERING three TO five each; and that
they are very strict Vegetarians, sub
sisting on grass, lichen, cat6ins, and
so on, while they themselves are al
fected as a diet by birds and beasts or
prey. Under ordinary circumstances,
however, a lemming is almost never
seen. His normal condition Is IN IN
visibility, and if a peasant, hunting on
the upper fields, falls in with one Of
the pretty wee things a great gloom
overcasts his spirit as he tells himself
that in all probability a lemmond aar-
a lemming migration-is at hand.
To begin at the root of the subject
the cause Of these migrations is now
generally conceded TO be identical with
that which inspired the fittings of our
Arvan ers-oVerpOpulatOn.
But the cause of overpopulatiOn is still
as profound a geological puzzle as 1t
was before so many scientists had Civ
en- il their patient attentiOn-aS II was
in the sixteenth century, even, when
CLAUS Magnus, hopelesSly posed by the
whole question, gTavely Informed the
learned world of that day that in his
opinion Jennings Travelled in Storm
clouds and dropped thence on the noun
tains over which the storms burst, a
theory still in repute among the peas
ants.
In years Of great 1emming productiv-
ity it has been observed that in the
same districts blackcoocks and all the
grouse family,as we'll as hares and some
species of rats and mice, are uncOm-
monty prolific, though in lesser proper
ton. But it has been utterly impos-
sfbIe, says Robert COllet, the Norwe-
gian naturalist, to detect at such times
any cause or explanation Of the in
crease. The summer of 1862, for exam
pie, was exceptionally cold and wet in
southern Norway, without single fea-
1ure apparently conducive to the rear
ing of young Yet 1862 was a famous
lemnling year in that region, and black
cocks were phenomenally abundant
1t should not be overlooked, says Col
lett. that nj some seasons more lem
ming families are produced than in 9TH
ers without a migration ensuing; again,
small, scattered migrations take place
yearly, and very rarely there is spo-
radio appearance of individuals in the
valleys. But in the year previous to
a, great hegira the plateau pairs, it is
believed, breed very frequently, having
ebnormally large broods, and the first
broods reared in the spring reproduce
again the next autumn. As the in
satinct of the species is against con-
gregation. these families all resolve
themselves into pairs which push sepa-
rately toward the edge of the plateau
In the following year. the abnormal
production still further increasing,
those living on the outside pass over
the plateau's edge, those behind follow
their lead, and then the true migration
has begun.
Marching always by night, and, as
Pennant says, in parallel files some thre
feet apart, hosts as numberless as the
leaves of the forest move straight down
the mountainside into the valley, and
valley to the sea, never swerving from
that line for any obstacle whatever.
If haystack stands in the way, scorn-
ing detours, they gnaw a passage thro'
II. If a mountain torrent crosses their
path, they plunge fearlessly in. If they
come upon a ford so broad that the
opposite shore cannot be seen. without
a moments hesitation they jump into
the water and after swimming two
miles or so are eXhauted and drown,
while all who survive 10 reach the sea
deash in with undated ardor. keep
afioat and head on to the old course
q : long as their strength holds out, and
then at last go to find rest from their
wanderings among the tranquil mol
lusks.
They once swarmed in myriads thro'
the streets of the city of TrOndjhem,
and Robert Collett, a very weighty au-
thority, is responsible for the statement
that in November, 1868. a steamer on
Trondhjem Fjord sailed for fifteen min
utes through a lemming mass that eX-
tended as far as the eye could reach.
Whatever the obstacle. animate or 9TH
erwise. no lemming ever turns in his
tracks. nor has one ever been known
TO return 10 the fields once embarked
on migra ton Their obzstinacy their
III temper. and their fOolhardy courage
have made their name a proverh. They
never run from any assailant, man or
beast. but turn and show fight 70 the
bitter end. The b3re-legged shepperd
boy who happens upon a lemmins flock
has excellent reasons to revile his luck,
for. with hysterical yelps and eyes
starting from their heads with rage.
the choleric little brutes spring upon
him from all sides. jumping as high
as his knees and fastening their teeth
into his flesh with grip that can be
loosened only by their death.