78 NATURAL HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF GROTON, MASS. 



death, that in his opinion there are not less than twenty-five 

 foxes killed each year within the limits of the town. 



According to " A Statement of the Number of Noxious 

 Animals destroyed in each town," made on January 27, 1837, 

 by the Secretary of the Commonwealth (who, by the way, 

 was John P. Bigelow, a native of Groton), fifty-four foxes were 

 killed in this town between May 1, 1835, and January 11, 



1837. 



More than sixty years ago I remember that the late Asa 



Shedd Lewis brought into the Brick Store a piece of wood, 

 as large as a man's arm, that had been gnawed through by 

 beavers. Mr. Lewis lived on Chicopee Row ; and the wood, 

 which I saw at the time, was found in the meadow, near 

 Hawtree Brook. See Miss Hill's paper under " Beaver" (p. 78). 

 Frank U. Lewis, the present owner of the farm, is a grandson 

 of A. S. Lewis. 



The late Zara Patch once told me that his grandfather Jacob 

 Patch once pointed out to him, when a boy, the place near 

 the foot of Rocky Hill, in the easterly part of the town, where 

 when a young man he had seen a bear with some cubs, lying 

 down under a projecting bowlder. His grandfather was born 

 on April 5, 1747. Mr. Patch was a son of Zara and Susanna 

 (Nutting) Patch, and was born at Groton on November 20. 

 1812. He died there on June 10, 1909, and at the time of 

 his death was the oldest person in town. 



In the. spring of 1846 the late Eliab Going Bolton gave me 

 the rattle of a rattlesnake, which he had killed some years 

 before on Snake Hill. Besides a " button " at the end, it 

 had twelve rattles, and is now in the possession of the Boston 

 Natural History Society, where it was given on December 9, 

 1 869. 



Muskrats are still common in the meadows, and a great pest 

 to all potato patches on low ground. Woodchucks are also 

 occasionally seen in the fields or on the hills, but in time they 

 will disappear, like many other kinds of animals. Within 

 forty years I have seen a mink on my father's meadow ; 

 and occasionally one is killed in the township. 



An article appeared in the "Boston Evening Record," 



