ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1920, 87 
FOXES. 
The foxes on the Pribilof Islands have regularly been the source 
of considerable revenue to the United States. The animals run at 
large on both islands and call for scarcely any outlay of funds and 
comparativ ely little labor. 
One of the paradoxical features of the fox life on these islands is 
that the larger island, with a greater abundance of seal meat and 
more accessible beaches, has constantly furnished a smaller number 
of skins than St. George Island. Immediate conditions can not be 
assigned as the reason for this peculiar difference because of the fact 
that the situation has remained the same over a period of more than 
40 years. Methods of feeding adopted on St. George Island in more 
recent years have caused a still greater contrast in the size of the 
catches on the two islands. 
In the assumption that the foxes obtain sufficient food from the seal 
bodies remaining on the killing fields and from the natural food on 
the seashore, no special effort to feed the animals is made on St. 
Paul Island. The foxes are trapped with common steel traps during 
a short season in the early winter. When possible it is always 
planned to do this trapping before the heavier snowfalls take place, 
so that the runways may be observed and the traps placed on the 
ground. The time for trapping is usually selected with respect to 
the condition of the ground surface and the outlook of the weather. 
TRAPPING SEASON OF 1920-21. 
During the Papin season of 1920-21 a total of 1,125 blue and 14 
white fox skins was taken on the two islands. Of this number 123 
blue and 13 white eens were taken on St. Paul Island and 1,002 blues 
and 1 white on St. George. In addition, there were reserved for 
breeding purposes on the latter island 242 male and 240 female foxes, 
making a grand total of 1,485 animals handled there during the win- 
ter. The above take is the lar gest since the winter of 18 392-93 when 
373 animals were caught on St. Paul Island and 928 on St. George; 
during that year no reservation of breeders was made, however. The 
gain in this season’s take, as in several past, comes entirely from 
St. George Island where the herd has been growing rapidly for a 
number of years. 
With respect to the methods in use at St. George Island, Agent 
C. E. Crompton has recently submitted a detailed report as follows: 
METHODS EMPLOYED IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE BLUE FOXES ON ST. GEORGE 
ISLAND, ALASKA. 
The blue foxes of St. George Island, Alaska, are the stock of what is probably 
the most successful fox farm in the country at the present time, if not the most 
promising in the world. The history of the ebb and flow of fox life on that 
island and the relation of that fluctuation to the influences which man has 
directly or indirectly brought to bear form a very interesting nature study. 
History states that the furs of the seals, sea otters, and foxes were much 
exploited during the years immediately following the Russian discovery of 
the island, but no authentie records prior to 1840 are available. James Judge 
states that during the 19 years ending with 1860 the average annual catch was 
over 1,200 animals; during the first 19 years of the American tenure of the 
island the average catch was approximately 1,000 each season. Trapping was 
conducted during but four of the six winters from 1890 to 1896, inclusive, and 
