FUR-FARMING IN CANADA 127 
tical with the red fox, of which they are in some cases the offspring. 
Still either the black or silver if mated together usually breed true. 
_ The cross fox is merely a dark form of the red with considerably more 
valuable fur. By selecting the darkest individuals to breed from and 
continuing the selection an increasingly valuable strain doubtless could 
be obtained. 
Foxes taken when young and carefully raised in captivity become 
tame and usually breed if properly paired. The red foxes as well as 
the Arctic or blue fox are evidently strictly monogamous............. 
BLUE OR ARCTIC FOXES 
Many of the islands in Alaska have been leased or taken possession 
of for fox farming. Some of these islands were already inhabited by 
blue foxes and others were stocked with them, mainly from St. George 
Island, where the best fur was found. 
As shown by the report of the Harriman Alaska Expedition, Vol. 
II., p. 357, 1901, and by a more recent account in Forest and Stream 
for July 26, 1906, by T. E. Hofer, these foxes are thriving and yield- 
ing considerable fur. On some islands they secure their own food and 
are merely guarded and trapped by those in charge. On most of the 
islands, however, they are fed for part or all the year, but then wild 
life has undergone little or no change. They appear to be naturally 
rather tame and with proper care could doubtless be thoroughly domes- 
ticated. 
They breed when a year old, pair for breeding and have usually 
fou to eight young at a litter. Prime skins are quoted at $20 to $25. 
OTTER 
Few wild animals thrive better in close confinement than otter. 
Given a small pen with a pool of water they seem comparatively con- 
tented and happy. They become very tame and are playful and in- 
telligent. There are many accounts of their being so domesticated as to 
follow thei master, come at his call and even catch fish and bring them 
out of the water for him. They are not easily trapped, and are quite 
able to hold their own against the encroachment of civilization. They 
probably are as common to-day near the district of Columbia as they are 
ove1 most of their range, which reaches from Florida to Alaska. They 
can be readily enclosed by a simple wire-mesh fence taking in a sec- 
tion of a stream. They do not climb or burrow to any extent. Their 
