XV.-THE BLUE FOX OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



By David Starr Jordan and George Archibald Clark. 



One of the important resources of the Pribilof Islands is the so-called Arctic fox 

 or blue fox, ,Vulpes lagoptts, which is widely distributed along the coasts of Alaska 

 and on the islands of Bering Sea. It is associated with the fur seals both on the 

 Pribilof and on the Commander islands, and in these places it has received a certain 

 degree of protection. The blue fox and the white fox are identical as species, both 

 being found in the same litter, the white fox being simply an albinistic form of the 

 other, its inner fur showing always some bluenpss or grayness. 



Of the general distribution of this animal Ivan Petroff in his report of 1883 

 gives the following account :' 



Of the Arctic fox we find in Alaslja two varieties — one white and the other a bluish gray, com- 

 monly called "blue fox" by the traders. The white fox is found along the coast of continental 

 Alaska from the mouth of the Kuskokwim northward to Point Barrow and the eastern boundary. Its 

 far is of a snowy white, especially in the young, and both so^t and long ; but, owing to the lack of 

 durability, it does not command a high price in the market. 



The animal is very numerous northward or Norton Sound, and not at ' all shy. Natives and 

 travelers alike report instances of the fearlessness with which these foxes enter their camps, and 

 even dwellings, in search of food or out of mere curiosity. A large portion of the skins secured by 

 Eskimo and other natives are used by themselves for trimming their garments, and the remainder 

 falls chiefly into the hands of whalers and whisky smugglers, so that it is impossible to obtain 

 accurate figures as to the annual catch. They may be called omnivorous, and they refuse nothing 

 that will fill their stomachs. I observed one sleek and apparently well-fed specimen which devoured 

 nearly the whole of a large salmon and afterwards worried down, with considerable difficulty, a thick 

 leather strap with a heavy buckle attached to it. lu the depth of winter the natives find it unsafe 

 to leave any article of clothing, dog harness, or boat material within their reach. 



The blue fox exists now on several of the Aleutian Islands, where it was found by the first dis- 

 coverers in 1741. The animal is also found on the Pribilof Islands, and here, where it has been pos- 

 sible to protect the species against intermixture with other and inferior foxes, the skins are of the 

 finest quality, commanding a high price in the market. Traders report the existence of the blue fox 

 to a limited extent in the vicinity of Oogashik, on the Aliaska Peninsula, and also on the Lower 

 Kuskokwim- and it occurs also on the delta between the months of the Yukon and Kuskokwim. 

 Captain Hooper of the Revenue Marine, who commanded the U. S. S. Corwin during two successive 

 cruises in the Arctic, reports that he saw blue foxes at Cape Espenberg, Elephant Point, Hotham 

 Inlet Point Hope, Point Belcher, and Point Barrow. The same gentleman also states that he "found 

 the blue fox much more plentiful on the Siberian than on the American coast, and that all the blue 

 foxes in the far north are so inferior to those on the islands of Boring Sea as to suggest the possibility 

 of their bein" a diflferent species.'' Even on the Arctic coast Captain Hooper sa.w blue foxes, taken 

 at the same time and place, difiering very much in the color and quality of the fur. On the Pribilof 

 Islands from 1,000 to 1,500 of the best quality of blue- fox skins are annually [1883] shipped, and several 

 ■ hundred of a little inferior quality from Attoo and Atkha islands, but it is impossible to ascertain the 

 quantity obtained along the Arctic coast by whalers and illicit traders. 



' Seal and Salmon Fisheries and General Resources of Alaska, 1897, Vol. IV, pp. 255-256. 



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