60 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



following article on " The Blue Foxes of the Pribilof Islands," by 

 James Judge: 



The Blue Foxes of the Peibilof Islands 

 " The Pribilof islands have many natural advantages as a home 

 for foxes. The innumerable caves and subterranean passages afford 

 the best protection possible against the elements or natural enemies, 

 while the bird, seal, and sea-lion life, with what may be picked up on 

 the beach, have in tlie past aiforded a supply of food rarely found else- 

 where. At the present time foxes are about extinct on St. Paul and 

 Otter islands and have been preserved on St. George only through a 

 system of artificial feeding adopted several years ago. This paper deals 

 with St. George foxes only. 



" In former times the annual quota of seals killed on St. 

 Former 



Food Supply (leorge island varied between 20,000 and 25,000. Hun- 

 dreds of sea-lions also were killed annually. With the 

 exception of what the natives took for food, these vast quantities of 

 meat were left on the ground where the animals were killed, and during 

 the long period from September to May, these seal and sea-lion fields 

 furnished the foxes with food, when other and more palatable food was 

 not obtainable. Frequently dead whales, walrusesi, sea-lions, or fish were 

 washed ashore, and, when this occurred, the killing fields were aban- 

 doned by the foxes, and only resorted to again when this temporary 

 food supply was exhausted. These were practically the conditionsi under 

 which the St. George foxes lived from the time of Russian occupancy of 

 the island down to 1890. During this long interval, no attention was 

 paid to the animals, except that trapping was indulged in by the native 

 residentsi, from one to two months each winter when the skins were 

 prime. 



" During the summer of 1896 I had the natives salt 500 

 Present i i -i 



Food Supply seal carcasses, the meat being preserved m an old silo 



formerly used by the sealing company. During the fol- 

 lowing winter, these carcasses were taken out, a few at a time, freshened, 

 and thrown out for fox food. The rapidity with which the foxes 

 learned that food would be set out daily at a certain place and time, 

 and the numbers in which they came for it, sairprised everyone on the 

 island. They not only ate the meat but nearly all the bones as well. 

 For an hour before feeding time they could be seen coming from all 

 directions to participate in the feast. While waiting, they prowled 

 around the village picking up everything of an edible nature and many 

 things not edible. They came in greatest numbers when the weather 

 was clear and cold. 



