XV.] THE FAUNA OF BEHRING ISLAND : FOXES. 601 



ate up everything that was at all eatable that was left in the open 

 air, but forced their way as well by day as by night into the 

 houses and carried off all that they could, even such things 

 as were of no use whatever to them, as knives, sticks, sacks, 

 shoes and stockings. Even if anything had been never so well 

 buried and loaded with stones, they not only found the place 

 but even pushed away the stones with their shoulders like men. 

 Though they could not eat what they found, they carried it 

 off and concealed it under stones. In such a case some foxes 

 stood on guard, and if a man approached all assisted in speedily 

 concealinoj the stolen article in the sand so that no trace of it 

 was left. When any of the men slept out of doors at night 

 the foxes carried off their caps and gloves, and made their way 

 under the covering. They nosed the noses of the sleepers to 

 tind out whether they were dead or living, and attempted to 

 nibble at any who held their breath. As the female sea-lions 

 and sea-bears often suffocate their young during sleep, the foxes 

 every morning made an inspection of the place where these 

 animals lie down in immense herds, and if they found a dead 

 young one they immediately helped each other, like good 

 scavengers, to carry away the carcase. When men were employed 

 out of doors they had to drive the foxes away with sticks, 

 and they became, in consequence of the slyness and cunning 

 with which they knew how to carry out their thefts and the 

 skill which they showed in combining to gain an end which 

 they could not compass as single animals, actually dangerous 

 to the shipwrecked men, by whom they were therefore heartily 

 hated, pursued, tormented, and killed. Since then thousands 

 and thousands of foxes have been killed on Behring Island 

 by the fur-hunters. Now they are so scarce that during our 

 stay there we did not see one. Those that still survive, besides, 

 as the Europeans settled on the island informed me, do not wear 

 the precious dark blue dress formerly common but the white, 

 which is of little value. On the neighbouring Copper Island, 

 however, there are still dark blue foxes in pretty large numbers.^ 



^ As early as Schelechov's wintering at 1783-84 the foxes on Behring 

 Island were principally white. During Steller's winterin,^, over a third of 

 the foxes on the island had a bluish fur {Neue nord. Beytr., ii. p. 277). In 

 the year 1747-48 a fur hunter, Cholodihjv, caught on Behring Island 1,481 

 blue foxes and 350 sea-otters, and the following year another hunter 

 returned with over a thousand sea-otters and two thousand blue foxes, 

 which probably were also caught on Behring and Copper Islands {Neue 

 Xachrichlen von denen neitentdeckten Insuin, Hamburg u. Leipzig, 1766, p. 

 20). In the year 1751-53 Jugov caught on the same island 790 sea-otters, 

 6,844 black and 200 white foxes, and 2,212 sea-bears {loc. cit. p. 22). In 

 1752-53 the crew of a vessel belonging to the Irkutsk merchant, Nikifor 

 Trapeznikoff, caught on Behring Island 5 sea-otters, 1,222 foxes (colour 

 not stated), and 2,500 sea-bears {loc. cit. p. 32). It thus appears as if the 



