IX.] 



FAUNA OF THE ISLAND. 



201 



for more than a hundred years.-' He had also found some grape- 

 shot, a few h'on bolts and some glass beads — the relics of Bering's 

 ill-fated party. 



According to Dr. Stejneger, none of the species either in the 

 fauna or flora of the Komandorski group are indigenous, 

 but are the results of immigration after the emerging of 

 the islands from the sea. This unmigration has taken 

 place chiefly from the west, and the animal and vege- 

 table life consequently agrees very closely with that 

 of Kamschatka. There are, of course, but few laud 

 mammals upon the islands. The blue or Arctic fox 

 ( Vidpcs laffojnis) is still tolerably common, although it 

 no lono-er exists in the enormous numbers in which 

 Bering found it, but as many as fifteen hundred were 

 killed in the season of 1881-82. The most abundant 

 animal appears to be the field-mouse (Arvicola rutilus), 

 whose introduction took place barely a decade ago. It 

 now swarms in Bering Island throughout its whole 

 extent, but as yet has not gained a footing upon Copper 

 Island. 



The only domestic animals are chickens and cows, 

 for up to the present horses have not been introduced 

 as they have upon the Pril^ylovs, and all transport work 

 is effected by means of dogs. At the period of our 

 visit we found the w^hole community greatly interested 

 in an experiment which, in its first steps, had been very 

 successful. Fifteen reindeer, four of which were stags, 

 were landed on the island in the month of July, thanks 

 to the joint efforts of Dr. Dybowski and the Alaska 

 Commercial Company. That they will become fairly established 

 in their new home there is little reason to doubt, for the fjell 



^ FJiytina gigas (Temm. ) For the description and history of this animal vide 

 Nordenskiold's "Voyage of the re(7«,"Eug. trans, p. 361. According to Dr. Stejneger, 

 the accounts given to Xordenskiokl by the natives with regard to the supposed ex- 

 istence of the animal up to a much later period are not to be relied upon. 



ALECT FIX. 



