BLUE FOX-FARMING 71 



Additional light is thrown on the breeding of blue foxes by the 

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

 James Judge: 



The Blue Foxes of the Pribilof 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, m the past, afforded 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. 

 Fo^Supply George 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 groimd 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, walruses, 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 conditions 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 

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

 prime. 



"During the summer of 1896, 1 had the natives salt 500 

 Present^ 1 ^^^^ carcasses, the meat being preserved in an old silo 

 upP y £Qj.jj^gj.iy ygg(j by tiig 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, surprised 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 



