was ddiic by Red Foxes, as they are luiu-li inoic 

 loiiiiiuiii. Dr. Sclinatterly writes Ihat farmers 

 yeuerally tell him Ihey lose many lambs every 

 spring by Foxes that come about ehieiiy at 

 night. The indignant farmers and stock raisers 

 know that Foxes commit thescj depredations as they 

 find the remains of lambs at tiie Foxes' dens among 

 the I'ocks. 



WttEUE PHEASANTS THRIVED. 



I call to mind a locality in. Centre county, where all 

 the natural conditions are most favorable for Ruffed 

 Grouse to live and multiply. Second growth white 

 pine and hemlock thickets, and extensive patches of 

 large rhododendrons (buck laurel) abound; wild fruits 

 and berries, chestnuts, acorns, arbutus, ferns, togethei' 

 with other kinds of jilant-food they live on, are plenti 

 ful in and around the old slashings and abandoned log 

 and tram roads. But the noble Ruffed Grouse has foi- 

 the past three years been very scarce there. Four 

 years ago this splendid game bird abounded in this 

 locality where I have often known a good marksman 

 to shoot in a day's tramp, of eight or ten miles, from 

 six to a dozen of them. 



FOXES DID IT. 



Some may say hunters killed all the birds; this, how- 

 ever, is not the case, but it is very clearly shown Ihal 

 Foxes are largely responsible for the Pheasants' dimi 

 nution. When these birds abounded in this particu- 

 lar locality, preying birds and mammals, other than 

 Red and Gray Foxes, hunters and tra[)pers found to be 

 fully as plentiful as they now are when the Pheasants 

 are so scarce. The farmers who live in the valleys 

 25-11 



