290 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 6 1 , FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 

 Food Habits 



In the summer of 1925, I had an opportunity to frequently ob- 

 serve foxes on Unimak Island and Alaska Peninsula. They were 

 found on some of the sand islands at Izembek Bay — it is probable 

 that they reached these islands by traveling over the ice during 

 the winter. They spent much time on the beaches of these is- 

 lands, where they dug for clams which they located by scent. 

 They also picked up crabs at low tide and ate codfish or other 

 carrion thrown up on the beach. 



On Unimak Island, Unalaska, and some other localities, rodents 

 become important in the diet and the foxes spend more time 

 inland. 



In 1911, Wetmore examined a den in the Morzhovoi Bay region, 

 where he noted fragments of ptarmigan and ground squirrels. 

 He also noted that foxes came down to the beach at Thin Point 

 to feed on the many stranded flounders. 



'Beals and Longworth (field report, 1941) found red foxes to be 

 well distributed over Unimak Island, but noted that they were 

 concentrated in the coastal areas, where they could feed on the 

 beaches. "Sandfleas were present in unbelievable numbers under 

 boulders and in rotting kelp. Scores of droppings were composed 

 almost entirely of these little fellows. The valley floors were 

 littered with mounds and tunnels made by small rodents and here 

 again we found fox droppings showing only hair and bones of 

 rodents. We found hundreds of instances where nesting burrows 

 had been torn out and the inhabitants eaten." 



They also found ptarmigan to be unusually abundant, observ- 

 ing flocks of 300 to 400 birds, and they remarked: "Fox-eaten 

 ptarmigan were found often enought to indicate them as having 

 an important place in his diet." 



The contents of 57 red fox droppings from Dolgoi Island were 

 found to contain the following items, listed in number of occur- 

 rences : 



Item Number Percent 



Microtus 38 52 



Bird 16 21.9 



Beach fleas (Crustacea) 6* 8.2 



Sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus drobachiensis) 4* 5.4 



Mussel (Mytilus sp.) 2* 2.7 



Heavy cloth 2 2.7 



Brown paper 2 2.7 



Hair seal (Phoca sp.) 1 1.3 



Small fish 1 1.3 



Large bone 1 1.3 



* Such forms are listed as times occurring, rather than as actual number of individuals. 



