348 THE FUR SEALS OP THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



HOUSE MOUSE. 



Mus musculus Linnaeus. 



The house mouse is extremely abundant about the village of St. Paul and has 

 been noted by various observers also on St. George, though I did not observe it there 

 myself. As soon as the natives on St. Paul learned that I wanted specimens they 

 brought them in abundance, but not always in a condition to be preserved. The mouse 

 is a great pest in the houses. A colony of them invaded our laboratory, which was 

 established in one of the houses built for the use of the natives, and before we were 

 aware of it took up headquarters, with disastrous results, in a box of birds which Mr. 

 Prentiss had taken great pains to collect. 



I am not aware that any record has been made of the date of introduction of the 

 mouse into the islands. Veniaminof in 1840 includes mice among the animals of 

 the islands, and presumably has reference to the present sijecies. According to his 

 account it was introduced into the Aleutian Islands by the Eussiaus. Mr. Elliott 

 includes it among the species observed by him between 1872 and 1876, but as it was 

 then common in the villages it must have arrived at a considerable earlier date. In 

 his report on Alaska, published in 1875, Mr. Elliott, referring to the Pribilof Islands, 

 remarks : "The islands are as yet free from rats, but mice have been brought long ago 

 in ships' cargoes and are a great pest in the winter." ' 



I saw nothing of rats while on the islands in 1895, but observe that Mr. Palmer 

 has noted that they arrive occasionally in ships, but do not breed. Veniaminof states 

 that the rat was introduced into Unalaska in 1828 by the ship Finland and increased 

 rapidly. 



ARCTIC FOX (WHITE FOX AND BLUE FOX). 



Vulpes lagopus (Linnaeus). 



Next to the fur seal and the sea lion the fox is the most interesting mammal of 

 the Pribilof Islands. One is not long on the islands before making his acquaintance, 

 and his maneuvers are a continual source of interest. Now he will be seen trotting 

 along in the distance,, turning neither to the right hand nor the left, and again he will 

 spring up almost from under one's feet, giving utterance to his high-pitched aud 

 querulous bark. There is something uncanny in the dogged persistence with which 

 he follows one's footsteps, falling back and barking if one faces about and drawing- 

 near again the instant one proceeds. I took pains on one occasion, when a fox had 

 been following me for some distance, to ascertain whether these little footpads could 

 be readily frightened away. I commenced by throwing large stones in the direction 

 of the animal, thinking to alarm it, but it merely drew aside to let the missiles pass, 

 and continued to bark at intervals, as before. Finally I aimed some rather smaller 

 stones directly at the fox, one of which struck it forcibly on the forehead. The fox 

 merely drew back a little and barked defiance, so I desisted, fearing that I might kill 

 the animal, which I had no wish to do. As I proceeded the fox drew near again and 

 followed me to the boundary of his domain, for each fox, like his neighbor the bull 

 seal, seemed to have a definite territory which he regards as his own and upon which 

 he resented intrusion. 



' Export upon the Condition of Affairs in Alaslia, 1875, p. 73. 



