WILD ANIMALS. 77 



WILD ANIMALS. 



Certain kinds of animals, common in the early days of 

 Groton, have now become extinct, or nearly so, in the 

 neighborhood. Some of them, as enemies of mankind, 

 have been stamped out in a relentless manner, while others 

 have been exterminated by the hunter or the trapper. In 

 other words, they have disappeared before the march of 

 civilization. 



A frequent entry in the early town-records is the payment 

 of money for killing wolves. The bounty at first appears to 

 have been ten shillings a head, but later it was considerably 

 less. On November 13, 1672, an assessment was made by 

 the Selectmen for raising money to pay some debts, among 

 which was the item : " for pay for a woalfes head to John 

 Nutting o 10 o." On February 8, 1680, — "The town Rat 

 beeing truly cast vp by the sellect men to pay for wolues heads 

 the sume is 8 6 4." Again, on December 29, 1683, a payment 

 is charged " too Josiah Parker for i woUfs hed and pups o 11," 

 " too Jams Nutin for 2 wolves hed and 3 days i 11," and "too 

 John ffarnworth for i wolf hed 3 dys half i i 3." Other 

 entries of a similar character are found scattered through the 

 town-records of that century. 



For sixty years Deer-Reeves were regular officers chosen 

 by the town to protect wild deer. As early as March i, 

 1742-3, John Longley, Jr., and Obadiah Parker were elected 

 to the position " to Take Care y'. y! Dear be not Destroyed 

 Conterary to y! Law," &c. ; and the office was kept up until 

 the March meeting of 1802. 



Foxes are still found, though gradually decreasing in num- 

 bers. While a lad, at different times I have seen them on 

 Broad Meadow during the winter season, when they were 

 tempted by hunger to visit hen-houses or poultry yards. 

 A few years ago, near Snake Hill, I saw unmistakable traces of 

 a bird that had been killed by a fox within a very short time. 

 The late George Sumner Graves, a noted sportsman of Groton, 

 wrote me on November 13, 1889, only sixteen days before his 



