22 Wild Bird Guests 



birds whenever he saw them and once killed and 

 partly ate a turkey gobbler weighing nearly 

 twenty-five pounds. 



There is plenty of evidence to show that foxes 

 are often destructive to bird life. It is easiest to 

 get such evidence in the spring, when there are 

 large families of hungry young foxes to be fed. 

 At the mouth of a fox den at this season one may 

 often see feathers, bones, and other remains of 

 grouse, quail, and poultry. I once saw a fox 

 shot just as she was about to enter her den with a 

 grouse in her mouth. Foxes are wonderfully 

 alert, sharp of ear, keen of sight and scent, quick 

 on their feet, and very intelligent. If they were 

 good climbers, they would be perhaps the worst 

 enemies the birds could have. Even as it is 

 they capture wild birds in many different ways. 

 Sometimes they stalk them, and spring upon 

 them as a cat might do, and a fox has been seen 

 to take a quick run and a tremendous leap and 

 catch a small bird on the wing. They will attack 

 game birds on the nest, and their habit of captur- 

 ing grouse which have been spending the night 

 under the snow, has long been known. I once 

 saw a fox barely miss capturing a grouse as it 

 left its snowy shelter. Another method not so 

 widely known, but which is apparently adopted 

 by a good many foxes and possibly other animals, 



