112 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



mortality among the young is large, and is due mainly to lack of nourishment and 

 inclement weather. About the middle of June the young begin to be observ^ed about 

 the mouths of the burrows. While the young are small, the mother, assisted frequently 

 by another fox, which is presumably the male parent, is very assiduous in providing 

 them with food. Birds are the favorite prey at this time, and quantities of feathers 

 and other remains which are scattered about the burrows testify to the skill of the 

 animals as hunters. When the dens are in the vicinity of the seal rookeries, the bodies 

 of many pups which have died are dragged away, and the bones picked clean of flesh may 

 be found about the burrows. 



METHODS OF CAPTURING. 



Previous to 1890 the usual method of capturing foxes on the Pribilof Islands was 

 by means of steel traps. When, however, the plan of feeding them was inaugurated 

 on St. George, the readiness with which the animals came to the feeding places suggested 

 capturing them in box traps, so that certain ones could be liberated for breeding. This 

 proving successful, the plan was conceived of taking them in larger numbers by means 

 of a larger trap. As finall)' perfected, this was a cage of woven wire 14 by 10 feet and 8 

 feet high, provided with a door which could be closed at will. This cage adjoins a house 

 divided into three rooms, used for storing and freshening the food and handling the 

 foxes. This trap, which is the regular feeding place, is usually left open so that the foxes 

 can come and go at will. The animals having become accustomed to the cage, it is 

 only necessary to remain in hiding until a number of them have entered the inclosure 

 and then close the door by means of a rope. The animals are then examined and those 

 to be reserved as breeders are marked by clipping a ring of fur from the tail, the males 

 being marked near the end of the tail, and females near the base. Those left for breeders 

 must be of good color, not too old, and in good physical condition. !Males taken in early 

 winter, in good condition, usually range in weight from about 8 to 14 pounds, and 

 females from 7 to 10 pounds. In selecting those to be left for breeding, no males 

 weighing less than 10 pounds are saved and no females less than jyi pounds. 



It was formerly the custom to reserve a preponderance of females, but the fact that 

 the fox is a monogamous animal being recognized, the sexes are now left in approximately 

 equal numbers. For a number of years previous to 1910, approximately 200 pairs were 

 usually released as breeders. Since then the number has usually been less. During 

 the winter of 1913-14, 237 males and 192 females were released, but as before stated, 

 the spring of 1914 found the animals in poor physical condition, so that this number 

 can not be taken as an indication that the herd is in a prosperous condition. 



In the annual trapping and handling of as many of the St. George foxes as can be 

 be secured, all white ones and all those crippled or diseased are killed. On St. Paul 

 Island the trapping has been almost entirely by means of steel traps, though deadfalls 

 are sometimes used. For many years it has been the custom to allow the natives to 

 shoot all white foxes seen during the trapping season, and during some years for longer 

 periods, but this method has not been very effectual. The reasons will be discussed 

 later. 



Of a lot of 1,044 foxes handled on St. George Island during the winter of 1905-6, 

 as recorded by Chichester (Senate Doc. 376, 60th Cong., ist sess., p. 51, 1908), 497 were 



