76 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July 19, 1913 
the rear of his residence at 226 West Swissvale 
avenue, Edgewood, yesterday morning when he 
saw the flock of pigeons. He says they were 
flying about 300 feet high and were headed 
south. He at once notified State Game Commis¬ 
sioner John M. Phillips over the telephone, and 
the latter was intensely interested, as the exist¬ 
ence of wild pigeons in this country has been 
doubted for years.” 
Fooling the Crow. 
It was the last day of my vacation, a mel¬ 
low Indian summer afternoon in November. I 
had spent the greater part of the day in the 
woods without getting a shot and was longing 
to hear the old gun’s voice just once more be¬ 
fore returning it to its case for a whole year. 
As I stepped out of the woods to cross a 
pasture, the loud cawing of crows arrested my 
attention. I sighted the birds about a quarter 
of a mile away, sitting on several tall spruces 
at the further end of the pasture. 
There were numerous bunches of thick 
shrubs and a few dwarf spruces between us. 
Here was a chance for a little fun with the 
crows. 
Keeping under cover as much as possible 
I worked my way some distance nearer and 
concealed myself in a mass of bayberry bushes. 
I always flattered myself that I could put up 
a pretty fair imitation of a crow’s call, and 
bringing my vocal accomplishment into play, I 
awaited the result. 
After I had let loose several times they 
began to sit up and take notice. I would get a 
few feeble calls in return, then they would seem 
to talk it over among themselves. Suddenly one 
old fellow started in my direction; nearer and 
nearer he came until I thought he was within 
shooting distance. I rose up to shoot and found 
that in looking through the tangled maze of 
limbs and twigs I had underestimated the dis¬ 
tance. He saw me and turned about, returning 
to his companions. I tried again and again, but 
the best he would do was to fly a short distance 
toward me, then return. 
Finally I crawled some hundred yards or 
more to the left and repeated my calls. This 
time the old fellow came straight for my new 
locality and I got him. 
My old psychology professor in college told 
me a good one once, and said it was a fact. 
Maybe you have heard it: A certain man had 
a cornfield, and of course the crows made the 
most of it. The man used to lay for them in 
a little shanty within gunshot of the field, but 
not a crow would come near if they saw him 
enter the building. Just to see how much the 
birds really knew, he took another man in with 
him, each with a gun, and each dressed as near¬ 
ly alike as possible. One of the men went away 
leaving the other there. Not a crow entered the 
field, but just as soon as the other man left, 
the crows returned. The next time three men 
entered the building. One went away; another 
went, still the crows would not come near, and 
they did not until the third man was gone. They 
had counted up to three so far. Finally four 
men entered the building. One man went away; 
not a crow moved. Another man left; nothing 
doing. Then a third went and the crows im¬ 
mediately returned to the field, while the fourth 
and last man that remained shot into them. 
My grandfather tells me that when a boy 
he was walking on the seashore and came upon 
two dead crows, their beaks and claws driven 
into one another to such an extent that in order 
to separate them it was necessary to rip them 
apart. A striking illustration of the “black 
death.” Frank L. Bailey. 
Fox Ranches in Alaska. 
BY U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE. 
Announcement has been made by the Sec¬ 
retary of Commerce of his intention to lease 
twelve islands on the coast of Alaska to per¬ 
sons who wish to engage in the business of rear¬ 
ing foxes. The islands will be leased for a 
period of five years to the highest responsible 
bidders. 
Recently the rearing of foxes for their furs 
has attracted a great deal of attention. Public 
interest has been aroused by the remarkable re¬ 
sults achieved in this industry in the eastern 
part of Canada. The prices reported to have 
been paid for silver foxes, black foxes and other 
valuable varieties are almost fabulous. The de¬ 
mand for foxes by breeders has been so greatly 
in excess of the supply that live foxes of the 
desired varieties bring many times the amount 
which could be secured for their pelts. 
While the breeding of foxes in Alaska has 
attracted but little public attention, the business 
has been going on for a number of years, and 
the requests made to the Department of Com¬ 
merce for permits to take wild stock for the 
purposes of domestication have been steadily in¬ 
creasing. On the Pribilof Islands the practice 
of taking the Arctic blue fox has been pursued 
for many years. In 1912 the sale in London of 
the 391 blue and white fox skins taken on those 
islands during the winter of 1910-11 netted the 
United States Government $15,096.58. The Lon¬ 
don sale in 1913 of the 413 skins taken in the 
winter of 1911-1912 netted the Government $20,- 
505.17. At this sale one lot of twenty-eight skins 
was sold for $3,675, or more than $131 per skin. 
It is thus seen that the blue foxes in the Govern¬ 
ment herds on the Pribilof Islands produce ex¬ 
ceptionally fine pelts and are, therefore, very 
desirable breeding stock. The Secretary of 
Commerce will undertake to furnish, under com¬ 
petitive bids, live blue foxes from the Pribilof 
Islands to those who desire choice breeding stock. 
There is little doubt that the various species 
and varieties of foxes can be improved by the 
application of methods of animal breeding used 
by up-to-date breeders of live stock. 
The Commissioner of Fisheries, in his an¬ 
nual report to the Secretary of Commerce and 
Labor for the fiscal year 1912, 'in speaking of 
the special efforts being made to improve the 
stock of foxes on the Pribilof Islands and the 
methods of handling the herds, states: 
“The results of experiments in feeding and 
selective breeding that are now in progress give 
reason to believe that the output can be greatly 
increased and the quality of the fur enhanced.” 
According to our present knowledge there 
are two principal groups of foxes native to 
Alaska that have been handled with success on 
fox farms. One of these is the species known 
as the Arctic blue fox, which is indigenous to 
the northern portions of Alaska. It is believed 
that it was not found on the Pribilof Islands 
at the time of their discovery in 1787, but that 
it was taken to those islands subsequently. It 
is also reared on fox ranches on various islands 
on the coast of Alaska. Some individuals of 
this species have nearly white fur and are known 
as white foxes. The fur of a white fox is much 
less valuable than that from the blue members 
of the species. For this reason it is good busi¬ 
ness to eliminate from a herd of blue foxes all 
individuals which show a tendency toward the 
white fox variety. 
The other is a group of species known col¬ 
lectively as red foxes, the various species being 
found distributed throughout the northern por¬ 
tions of the United States and in Canada and 
Alaska. Silver gray foxes, cross foxes and black 
foxes are considered as individual variations of 
the red fox. Experiments which have been 
made indicate, however, that pure strains of 
these varieties may be obtained by selective 
breeding. 
On the Pribilof Islands the foxes subsist 
principally on the waste portions of seal meat 
not utilized as food by the inhabitants. On the 
fox ranches along the coast of Alaska fish is 
used to supplement when necessary the food 
which the foxes are able to secure for them¬ 
selves. When fresh fish cannot be had, salted 
fish is substituted. 
The islands which it is proposed to lease 
are those which had been leased by the Secretary 
of the Treasury for fox propagation purposes 
prior to May 14, 1898. They are: Chirikof 
Island, southwest of Kodiak Island; Long 
Island, near Kodiak Island; Marmot Island, east 
of Afognak Island; Little Koniuji Island and 
Simeonof Island, of the Shumagin group; Little 
Naked Island, one of the Naked Islands, Prince 
William Sound; Carlson Island, Prince William 
Sound; Middleton Island, Gulf of Alaska; Pearl 
Island and Elizabeth Island, of the Chugach 
Islands; Aghiyuk Island and Chowiet Island, of 
the Semidi Islands. 
These are the islands which were leased by 
the Secretary of the Treasury under the author¬ 
ity of the acts of March 8, 1879 and May 14, 
1898. By executive order dated Feb. 2, 1904, 
the authority to lease these islands was trans¬ 
ferred to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. 
None of them is now under lease. 
Full information regarding the conditions 
with which one must comply in order to secure 
a lease of one of these islands can be obtained 
by addressing the Secretary of Commerce, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. 
The more important requirements are that 
leases will be given only to American citizens or 
companies or corporations organized under the 
laws of a State or Territory, that the period of 
the lease will be five years, with an annual fee 
of not less than $200, and that detailed reports 
be submitted annually to the Secretary of Com¬ 
merce. 
A New Game Preserve. 
Isle Royale, Lake Superior, containing 
about 100,000 acres, has been offered as a State 
game preserve by the Island Mining Company, 
which holds about 90,000 acres on the island, on 
condition the State will co-operate in making the 
entire island a preserve. The island is part of 
Keweenaw county. 
It is likely the next session of the Legislature 
will pass an appropriation. A large part of the 
island is heavily wooded. 
