^2 West American Scieniut 



in the thick bushes, during such time as they are not abroad, and 

 one of my companions once came upon one fast asleep, under a 

 low bush, during the heat of the day. 



Their food seems to be of the most varied and miscellaneous 

 character. The berries of certain plants are undoubtedly their 

 main reliance, and to obtain these the foxes actually do a good 

 deal of climbing, for we more than once discovered them awk- 

 wardly perched in the top of a good sized bush, eight or ten feet 

 from the ground. Besides berries, they eat crabs, for which they 

 search diligently along the rocks at low tide. While walking 

 among the hills one mornii g I discovered the half-decayed body 

 of an old ram, which had evidently died a couple ot days before. 

 Upon coming nearer I observed the tail of a fox protruding from 

 a huge hole m the side of the carcass, and as I approached the 

 fox came out and ran up to me, apparently impelled by curiosity. 

 He presented a spectacle more easily imagined than described, 

 suffice it to say that his appearance afforded ample evidence of 

 the nature of his repast 



During the spring the foxes undoubtedly devour the eggs of 

 the smaller birds, when they are fortunate enough to secure them; 

 the gulls, cormorants, and oyster-catchers all nest on the isolated 

 rocks. 



More than once we came upon foxes blind in one eye ; some- 

 times both eyes were half clo.^ed up. We attributed this mis- 

 fortune to the long spines of the cactus (Opuntia engelmanni) 

 which abounds upon the island. [It would seem more reasonable 

 to suppose their blindness to have been caused by the acts of 

 birds in defending their nest, than from the spines of Opuntia, 

 which our native animals are usually able to and do avoid- — Ed.| 



The jays (Aphebo coma insularis, Henshaw,) do not seem to 

 be much afraid of the foxes, and we often saw amusing quarrels 

 between the two. On one occasion a fox was eating a good sized 

 piece offish bone on the bank previously referred to, and a jay 

 was perched upon a low branch about a foot above his head. 

 Every time the fox's attention was distracted for a moment from 

 his meal, the jay would dash down from his perch and try to 

 carry off the bone, but always without success, though he oc- 

 casionally captured a morsel offish. 



Although the foxes were, as I have stated, wonderfully tame, 

 we did not succeed in inducing them to take food actually from 

 our hands, though they would often approach within a yard of 

 us when we held out some tempting morsel to them. I have no 

 doubt, however, that they would have soon conquered this natural 

 timidity if we had remained longer at the island, as we took care 

 not to frighten them in any .ay, valuing too highly our remark- 

 able advantages for observing the habits of these curious animals 

 in their natural state. — E. W. Blake, Jr., in Random Notes on 

 Natural History. 



