

THE MOTHER MURRE 71 



On one of the large estates here in Hingham, a 

 few weeks ago, a fox was found to be destroying 

 | poultry. The time of the raids, and their boldness, 

 were proof enough that the fox must be a female > - 

 with young. Poisoned meat was prepared for her,, j 

 and at once the raids ceased. A few days later one/ 

 of the workmen of the estate came upon the den of j 

 a fox, at the mouth of which lay dead a whole litter! 

 ! of young ones. They had been poisoned. Ther 

 I mother had not eaten the prepared food herself, but, 

 i had carried it home to her family. They must havei I 

 j died in the burrow, for it was evident from the signs 1 

 \ that she had dragged them into the fresh air to re-; 

 | vive them, and deposited them gently on the sand 

 | by the hole. Then in her perplexity she had brought; 

 ] various tidbits of mouse and bird and rabbit, which? 

 I she placed at their noses to tempt them to wake up| 

 J out of their strange sleep and eat. No one knows howj 

 ', long she watched beside the lifeless forms, nor what 

 j her emotions were. She must have left the neighbor- 

 ' hood soon after, however, for no one has seen her 

 ] since about the estate. 



The bird mother is the bravest, tenderest, most 

 [appealing thing one ever comes upon in the fields. 

 It is the rare exception, but we sometimes find the 

 'real mother wholly lacking among the birds, as in 

 \ \ the case of our notorious cowbird, who sneaks about, 



I watching her chance, when some smaller bird 

 / 1 gone, to drop her egg into its nest. The egg must 



I j. 1 



