July 28, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
i 33 
NO. 6. WILD HORSES FLEEING BEFORE AN ASSYRIAN ARCHER. FROM A BAS-RELIEF FROM NINEVEH. 
In the feed houses are troughs similar to those 
used for feeding pigs. There are enough of 
them to hold one hundred gallons of feed. The 
house used for feeding has a number of en¬ 
trances around the sides for the fox to pass in 
and out freely; usually they are about three feet 
apart and arranged to that they can all be closed 
at once, if desired. The food is placed in the 
troughs during the day, at which time very 
few foxes are about, and then only the younger 
ones. During the night the food disappears or 
nearly so. At dusk the foxes can be seen coming 
from all directions, and their barking and calling 
can be heard a long way. 
On one island not far from Dutch Harbor a 
Mr. Applegate has been successful with blue foxes, 
and never feeds them, there being sufficient food 
on the beach for the foxes. 
The amount of food they take at the feed 
houses depends largely on the quantity of 
natural food they find on the island and beaches. 
They are great wanderers and rustling hunters. 
During the “big tides,” when they run out very 
low, the foxes take very little cooked food, find¬ 
ing something more to their liking on the 
beaches and off the rocks. They eat a kind of 
kelp, sea-eggs (sea urchins), clams, mussels, and 
all sorts of small crustaceans, an animal that clings 
to the rocks, which the natives call bidarkies or 
gum boots (limpets)—they are about as ten¬ 
der as a gum boot. They pick up some dead fish and 
birds, besides stealing birds’ eggs in season, 
grills and sea parrots. They find mice and small 
birds, and in summer get considerable fruit- 
salmon berries and raspberries, of which they 
are very fond. They eat several kinds of kelp. 
During the height of the berry season the older 
foxes will hardly visit the feed houses at all. 
The blue fox is as omnivorous as a bear, and 
what they can't eat they will carry away if they 
can lift it, caching things about their burrows, 
even stealing from each other. This is the 
cause of some of their quarrels when the thieves 
get caught. The keepers on the islands have to 
keep everything under lock and key, and well 
fastened up in the buildings. I found even the 
food in the dwellings not safe unless the door 
was fastened. They have even opened doors 
that were only fastened with a latch and opening 
inward. I had taken some fresh beef to an 
island and hung it up in an outer room. Not 
one of the foxes on this island had ever tasted 
fresh beef, yet they slipped in one day soon 
after my arrival, when I had carelessly left a 
door ajar, and were at work on the meat in a 
moment. I had seen no foxes about, and they 
were out of sight when I started for the door. 
I only discovered their presence by their tooth 
marks on the meat. There are no dogs or cats 
refuse from the kitchen. This was the fellow 
who had slipped in for the beef. When I first- 
arrived I gave him a little piece of the fresh 
meat. At first he didn’t notice it, then-picked it 
up and dropped it as though he had no use for 
it, went on looking for something else to carry 
away. He took some orange peel; not liking 
that found a fish head and carried that to his 
cache. I was very much surprised to see he 
did not eat the fresh meat. Soon he returned, 
picked up the meat, took another taste and 
dropped it and appeared to be making up his 
mind about the strange stuff. Then he picked 
it up and carried it off a few feet, caching it in 
the moss, as a dog would. An hour after this 
he dug it up and carried it home. If another fox 
came around the door he would drive him away. 
Although not a large fox, he was yet able to 
whip any intruders on his claim. His burrow 
was underneath the warehouse on the east side 
of the island. The dwelling house I speak of 
was close by a little fresh water lake. I have 
watched the foxes venturing to get in a little 
skiff tied to the shore. They would put their 
NO. 7. SCRIBE OF THE ROYAL GRANARIES FOWLING. FROM AN EGYPTIAN WALL- 
PAINTING IN A TOMB AT THEBES (XVIIITH AND XIXTH DYNASTIES). 
on the island. They had to reach quite high to 
get hold of the meat. The meat probably saved 
my shoes, for I was cautioned never to leave 
anything where a fox could get at it, either 
shoes or clothing or anything else. A pair of 
gloves will disappear in a moment. 
There was one fox which used to claim all the 
paws on the edge of the skiff to look in for 
plunder; as the boat would float away they 
would be stretched out over the water, but 
recovered themselves and got back to the shore 
without a wetting. Had they seen anything 
worth having they would soon have been in the 
boat. When the keepers return from fishing 
they have to be careful to remove all bait from 
hooks for fear of catching a fox, if left out for 
a few moments. The foxes would jump six feet 
from the side hill to the top of the cabin, and 
try to reach over the gable ends for the fish 
we used to hang up for food for ourselves. 
They would also jump from the ground trying 
to reach them. 
In summer blue foxes are fed on some islands 
by simply drawing a seine, leaving the fish on 
the beach. The small fish are carried away and 
nothing left but the heads and back bones of 
the large ones. At times, after one of these 
hauls, from ten to sixty or more foxes can be 
seen on the beach at once, if no stranger is 
around. They are quite shy of any newcomers, 
and seem to know the moment they land. They 
usually travel at a lope, and follow regular 
“trails” in going to their feeding places, the 
beaches, and returning to their burrows. Even 
up a steep hill side they follow their trails, and 
these can be seen for long distances in the dry 
grass in the spring. They rather frequent the 
warm southern exposures for their burrows, 
NO. 8. PART OF BEAR HUNT. FROM FRIEZE OF THE ORDER OF NEREID MONUMENT, XANTHOS. 
