192 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



cans. Wild dogs were found on San Clemente as late 

 as 1850. The most conspicuous animal on San Cle- 

 mente, aside from wild goats, which were placed there, 

 are the foxes, which doubtless were also introduced, 

 though this is by no means positive — merely my 

 opinion. The fox is an attractive little animal, easily 

 tamed, and I can imagine it kept as a pet by the 

 Indians. They increase so rapidly that it is necessary 

 to kill them. In my last trip to the island I saw sev- 

 eral at Don Lorenzo's ranch which had been poisoned. 



This is the only large mammal on San Clemente. 

 Around the camp at Rowland's was a white-footed 

 mouse {Peromyscus maniculatus dementis) , according to 

 Grinnell, peculiar to the island. Once at the harbor 

 of the Canon Diablo at Santa Cruz these little creatures 

 fairly swarmed about the camp and in the rocks 

 of the beach at night. At Santa Catalina there is a 

 Santa Catalina white-footed mouse, a distinct species, 

 Catalince, and Professor Joseph Grinnell has found 

 that the island partridge is peculiar to Santa Catalina. 

 Another little creature, the harvest mouse (Reithrodon- 

 tontys catalince), is also peculiar to this place. 



If there are squirrels at San Clemente I have failed to 

 see them, but they are in evidence at Santa Catalina. 

 I have also seen the gopher here, and I think a wild 

 cat, though of this I am far from being positive, having 

 caught only a glimpse of the animal, which had a 

 bobtail and was large for a cat. Some years ago a 

 man began to catch foxes for their tails, cutting them 

 off and releasing the animals. Whether he expected 

 they would grow again I do not recall, but he secured 

 a large number of brushes in this altogether savage 

 way. In time a guileless naturalist came to Santa 



