154 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
FOXES 
Herds of blue foxes are maintained on St. Paul and St. George 
Islands which yield several hundred pelts annually. The foxes 
require very little care, roaming the islands at large and obtaining 
their food during most of the year from birds, birds’ eggs, and marine 
life along the beaches. In the winter, when the natural supply of food 
is inadequate, the foxes are fed prepared rations, consisting chiefly 
of cereals, salted seal meat, and seal oil. During December and 
January the animals are trapped for their pelts or for marking and 
releasing as a breeding reserve. 
TRAPPING SEASON OF 1938-39 
In the 1938-39 season there were 1,029 fox pelts taken, of which 
1,018 were blue and 11 white. Two hundred and nineteen blue and 
5 white pelts were taken on St. Paul Island and 799 blue and 6 white 
pelts on St. George Island. 
There were trapped, marked, and released for breeding stock, 53 
male and 44 female foxes on St. Paul Island and 38 males and 49 
females on St. George Island. The breeding reserve includes also a 
considerable number of animals that were not captured during the 
season. 
REINDEER 
St. Paul Island.—The estimated number of reindeer in the herd on 
St. Paul Island on September 30, 1938, was 1,943, of which it was 
estimated that 430 were the young of the season. During the year 
103 animals were killed for food. Of this number, 24 were used at 
the Bureau mess, 50 at the Aleutian mess, 25 by St. Paul Island 
natives, 6 were transferred to St. George Island, and 4 were not fit 
for food. The herd was apparently in good condition. 
St. George Island.—A count of the reindeer in the herd on St. George 
Island on September 30, 1938, showed 38 animals, of which 8 were 
fawns. No reindeer on this island were killed for food during the year. 
FUR-SEAL SKINS 
SHIPMENTS 
Seven hundred and seventy barrels containing 58,364 fur-seal skins - 
taken on the Pribilof Islands in 1938 were shipped on the U.S.S. Vega 
and arrived at Seattle on August 25. Forty barrels of blubber, having 
a gross weight of 19,838 pounds, also were brought out on the Vega 
and delivered to the Fouke Fur Co., f. 0. b. Seattle, for use in the 
tanning of sealskins. 
Delivery of 8,755 sealskins, packed in 114 barrels, was made to a 
representative of the Canadian Government at Seattle on August 26, 
in accordance with provisions of the fur-seal treaty. The remaining 
49,609 skins were forwarded by freight to the Fouke Fur Co. at St. 
Louis, Mo., and arrived there on September 3. 
