FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA 287 



ing, the sea otter of the Commander Islands (May 1943), and 

 it i's said that the Japanese have been managing the sea otters 

 of the Kurile Islands on a commercial basis. The southern sea 

 otter is increasing along the California coast. All in all, this 

 interesting animal has already regained much of its lost range, 

 and it can be assumed that it has attained a lasting place in the 

 American fauna. 



Family CANIDAE 



Vulpes fulva: Red Fox 



Vulpes fuiva o/ascens/s 



Aleut, Morzhovoi Bay: Ikowukh (Wetmore) 



From vocabulary compiled by R. H. Geoghegan at Valdez in 1903: 

 Ukhaching 



Russian: Lee-see-sha (Buxton) 



Russian, Siberia; See-way-doos-ka (cross fox) 



The red fox is plentiful throughout the Alaska Peninsula and is 

 found on the eastern Aleutian Islands. Unimak Island, in particu- 

 lar, has a large fox population, and the species occurs also on 

 Akun, Unalaska, Umnak, Chuginadak, Amlia, Adak, Kanaga, 

 and Sanak Islands. Foxes occur on Dolgoi, which was utilized 

 for commercial fox propagation — it is possible that the fox origi- 

 nated here in that fashion. Great Sitkin, also, was said to have 

 had some red foxes. Those on Amlia and Adak Islands are the 

 silver-gray color phase. 



Kellogg (1936) found bones of the red fox to be one of the 

 most abundant mammal remains in Aleut middens on Kodiak 

 Island. 



The westward expansion of the red fox, in its various color 

 phases, on the Aleutian chain is uncertain, but it certainly must 

 have occupied the easternmost group of islands. General histori- 

 cal accounts give us a few clues. In his "History of Alaska, 

 1730-1885," Bancroft (p. 120) states that in 1758 Glottof started 

 for the Aleutians, and wintered at Bering Island. The following 

 summer, he arrived at an unknown island, probably Umnak. 

 where he remained* for 3 years. He returned with a cargo of 

 furs, including the black foxes from the Aleutian Islands. The 

 shipment included 11 sea otters, 280 sea otter tails, 1,002 black 

 foxes, 1,100 cross foxes, 400 red foxes, 22 walrus tusks, and 58 

 blue foxes. 



Again (p. 154), Bancroft remarks, "In 1764, when the first 

 black fox skins had been forwarded to the empress, gold medals 



