FUE-SEAL INDUSTRY. 91 



traps, was 27 skins per day or 2 less per day than during the previous season. This 

 would appear to indicate that the herd had made no such advances in numerical 

 strength as to warrant a long period of trapping, with the attendant danger of over- 

 trapping and an unwarranted reduction in fox life. 



Under the conditions of fox life on this island it is difficult to see how any estimate 

 of the actual number of foxes in existence can be secured. Unlike St. George Island, 

 foxes here are rarely seen. During the summer and early fall the writer observed one 

 family of two adults with three vigorous young in the cliffs near Zolotoi Sands, and 

 several families were seen between Telegraph Hill and Halfway Foint Lake and 

 between Telegraph Hill and the vicinity of Little Zapadni rookery. A fox is rarely 

 seen in the immediate vicinity of the village, though one did appear during the sum- 

 mer and loitered for a short time around our chicken house. Therefore, the only 

 guide as to the number of foxes in existence is in the number taken from season to 

 season. In earlier years this island supported a large fox herd, as indicated by the 

 annual takes. The decrease in the herd, as indicated by the annual takes, appears 

 to have followed the decrease in the number of seals taken and the gradual diminution 

 in available food. 



It would therefore appear that the problem of fox propagation here is, as on St. 

 George Island, one of food. During the period from August, 1912, to August, 1917, 

 the number of seals taken was limited to the number required for food for the native 

 inhabitants. Little, if any, seal meat was available for the support of the foxes, and 

 thej' had to subsist during that period almost entirely on the sea food of various kinds 

 thrown up on the beaches. The increased takes of seals during the past two seasons 

 have furnished abundant food, but the time has been too short to produce any marked 

 effect upon the herd other than to show a satisfactory condition of nourishment, as 

 indicated by the weights of the animals secured this season. The lightest fox taken 

 this season was a blue female that weighed 4^ pounds, taken December G, at Zapadni; 

 the heaviest was a white male weighing '\7^_ pounds, taken at Tsammana on December 

 3. The average for the take was about 11 i)ounds. This may be accepted as a very 

 satisfactory average weight for foxes of both sexes and all ages and indicates that the 

 herd has found an abundance of food during the past year. Now that commercial 

 sealing will proceed steadily there should be no shortage of food, and the physical 

 condition of the herd should therefore show a steady improvement. With the 

 animals in good physical condition and food abundant during all seasons of the year, 

 we should expect larger litters to be brought to maturity and an early increase in 

 the numerical strength of the herd. During the past sealing season killings were 

 arranged, as far as practicable, with a view to leaving carcasses at various points on 

 the island where foxes had been seen or where the ground formation was favorable 

 for burrows, and this policy should be maintained. 



As long as foxes are taken in steel traps nothing in the line of selective breeding 

 can be considered, as every animal caught, regardless of its condition, must be killed. 

 Neither can any effort be made to maintain approximately an equal number of animals 

 of each sex. However, trapping by means of steel traps was not known to be detri- 

 mental to the herd in former years, when seals were killed in abundance and their 

 carcasses permitted to lie on the ground in various places, and there is every reason 

 to believe that with the continuation of commercial sealing the herd here can ulti- 

 mately be brought to its former flourishing condition. How many years that will 

 take can not at this time be foretold. 



It has been suggested that the St. George method of fox trapping be tried on this 

 island, but the writer is extremely doubtful as to the success of such an experiment. 

 The St. George method of trapping foxes has been carried on only during the period 

 of small seal killings and when the two killing fields used were kept free from carcasses 

 during the winter season. The St. George killings are practically confined to the 

 village killing field and to the killing field at Zapadni. During the period of the St. 

 George method of trapping all of the seal carcasses on that island not required by the 

 natives for food were placed in a silo and used for food at the village trap after the 

 migration of the bird life. This method practically forced the foxes to resort to the 

 village for food; that they come there solely for food during the winter season is shown 

 by the promptness with which they abandon that feeding ground when the birds 

 return to the island. To establish successfully the St. George method on St. Paul, 

 traps would have to be built at several points and the killing fields would have to be 

 kept free from food during the late fall and throughout the winter. This would place 

 upon the working force an additional burden during sealing operations, and it is 

 doubtful whether the results secured would warrant the necessary expenditure of 

 money and labor at the present time. 



The development of the by-products plant and extension of roads from the village 

 to the various killing fields may materially change the conditions in the future, and 



