The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-11-30
"A FORMER GRoTON MAN STARTS
 AN ODD COLONY.

Foxes Worth Ten Thousand Dollars Transported From Alaska to Island in the Atlantic.
 The Boston Globe of recent date gives an interesting account of the Fox colo ny in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, started Morgan of Groton.
 'The Klondike foxes" the people Adown Boothbay Harbor way call them, according to the Globe. They dwell on outer Heron island, one hundred acre tract, near Damariscove. This outer Heron project Is the latest and the most unique Maine "crop" to be attempted, and if the scheme continues to prosper Maine will commence to take as much interest in Alaska foxes as in Alaska gold.
 Something over a year ago several men of wealth who have been experi- menting with fox propagating in Alas ka determined to attempt trial of the possibilities of the Atlantic coast. They purchased Outer Heron island. The place is sufficiently near the main land to enable the owners to keep close surveillance of their property, but is re- moved far enough from other land to prevent the foxes from escaping. Fur thermore the syndicate has hired man to live on the island the year round and look after the animals
 The object of the experiment has been to see if the valuable fud producing foxes of the Arctic zone could be bred in quasi captivity and If by skilful management the almost priceless black variety could be bred up to-
 FOXES VALUED AT $1O,OOO.
 Even those who understand that the experiment has been on for a year or more are scarcely prepared for a state ment that the foxes now on the island are valued at nearly ten thousand dol lars.
 The venture has been a tedious and an expensive one. On their journey from Alaska the animals had to be handled with extreme care Seven of the animals were started, silver grays and blacks, and they were valued at over one thousand dollars. The foxes were year or more on the road.
 This slow progress toward Maine was In order that they might not suffer from too sudden change of climate.
 As 1t was, one of the females, finding the confinement irksome, gnawed the bars of her cage so persistently that her teeth were torn down when she reached Maine and she was unable to hunt food when she was released on the island. Her peIt was removed after she died and Is valued at one hundred and fifty dollars.
 BECOMING AGGRAVATED
 As nearly as can be determined there are now at least seventy-f1ve of the an- imals and all of them seem to be in good condition. Soon after the arrival of the strangers on the Maine soil the caretaker says that he saw baby foxes scurrying around the beach, and as only two or three dead young foxes have been found it is safe to presume that most of the youngsters have four ished and have accustomed themselves to the climate.
 The foxes are so wary that up to this time the caretaker has been unable to discover to what per cent, the black foxes are running among the silver grays This color has everything to do with their value. The pelt of the pure- 1y black fox is worth it's weight in gold. Barely two hundred pelts are marketed yearly in London, the fur mart of the world.
 A man who recently raised a litter of foxes found one that was purely black. He sold the pelt for the handsome price of four hundred and fifty dollars. The other four in the litter were silver grays of varied markings and the price he received for their skins ranged from one hundred and fifty down to sixty five dollars
 IA GENERAL ROUNDUP PLANNED.
 Finally, however, a general roundup of the animals will take place. The manager proposes to place meat and fish near their holes and gradually ac- custom them to one feeding place. Then when their timidity has in a measure worn away he will build over the feeding place shed. and at first a. roof merely. Then by degrees he will close in the sides until the foxes at last become accustomed to entering by a hole on one side and leaving by a hole on the other It will then be easy enough to trap them by means of a swing door.
 SNA foxes will be weeded out, the males es- pecially It is hoped that in course of time the purely black variety may be produced at will
 MT. J. Edward Knight of Boothbay Harbor, the local representative of the syndicate, was at the island not long ago. and after as careful an examina- ton as he could make he decided that the foxes were getting on remarkably well. At one place on the beach there is a mussel bed that the animals espec- ially delight in, and at low water they flock out there and gather in the shell fish The foxes have no trouble in crushing the shells with their strong teeth, and then they nozzle out the juicy morse1s.
 FOND OF FISH.
 The animals relish fish much better than meat, and they do not pay much attention to a horse that was led out near their holes and killed for their es- pecial benefit. With the cold weather they grow more domestic, and already come daily to the caretaker's house, squat on the piazza and gobble the
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