FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA 291 



At least two of the birds represented here were of sparrow 

 size and may have been captured, but the others were larger birds 

 and (since we found no bird colonies on this island) probably 

 were carrion washed up on the beach. One dropping contained 

 100 percent sea urchin, three others contained 100 percent beach 

 fleas. 



The contents of 25 red fox droppings from Unalaska Island, 

 based on number of items, were as follows : 



Item Number Percent 



Citellus 16 48.5 



Microtus 9 27.3 



Dicrostonyx 2 6 



Bird 6 18.2 



In this case, rodents furnish the bulk of the food. The droppings 

 were collected in summer. It is interesting to note that on 

 Chuginadak, on Amlia, and probably on the sand islands in Izem- 

 bek Bay, there are no rodents and the red fox evidently adapts 

 itself to beach combing. 



General Habits 



There is no doubt that the life history of the Alaskan red fox 

 follows a normal pattern, but there are certain unusual traits. 

 One of these unusual traits is the remarkable tameness of cer- 

 tain "wild" foxes. Frequently, I approached quite close to a fox 

 as it went about its usual business without giving me much atten- 

 tion. A most unusual incident occurred on Operl Island, at Izem- 

 bek Bay, in the summer of 1925. A red fox that was hunting on 

 the beach allowed me to approach with the camera to within 5 

 feet. The animal had fed well on the beach, judging by the con- 

 tour of its body. When the tide came in, the animal left the beach 

 and wandered into the sand dunes, where it eventually lay down 

 to rest. It closed its eyes and went to sleep while I photographed 

 it within a distance of 6 or 8 feet. The animal was still sleeping 

 when I departed. 



Local trappers assured me that foxes lose this extreme tame- 

 ness on the approach of winter. 



On another occasion, Stevenson and I came upon a group of 

 five beach-feeding red foxes that exhibited more normal traits, 

 particularly an aversion to swimming. They were at the tip of a 

 narrow sand spit that was separated from the main beach by 

 a narrow channel of water. This was an ideal situation for a 

 picture, assuming that they would hesitate to swim the channel. 



We quickly reached the base of the sand spit and, dividing the 



