38:i 



was absurd to say that tli(-y would j^o near a vicious old 

 sow when she had a litter of young, I wrote to Dr. L. 

 W. Schnatlerly, a well informed naturalist, of Free- 

 port, Armstrong county, Pa. I knew he resided in a 

 section of the Commonwealth where Foxes were said 

 to be very numerous, and much addicted to stealing 

 lambs, poultr}' and young pigs. The docto-r kindly 

 took the trouble to interview on this subject a number 

 of his farmer friends and other reliable gentlemen. 

 The facts thus obtained are told by Dr. Schnatterly in 

 the following words: 



Mr. John Ehrenfelt, a farmer and stock dealer of Armstrong 

 county, tells me that every spring the Foxes stole many of 

 his lambs, and the only way he could prevent it was to take 

 a dead one, fill it with arsenic or strychnine and leave it where 

 they would get it. He says he has cleaned the Foxes out many 

 times that way. 



Mr. Geo. Ralston, farmer, Armstrong county, has lost many 

 lambs by Foxes but could never catch the cunning fellows at 

 their work, but has found many lambs' pelts and skeletons at 

 their dens. Along the Allegheny river hill which adjoins my 

 farm there is a den of them now and they are around my barn- 

 yard weekly. 



Mr. Geo. Sterick, formerly a farmer but now one of our 

 townsmen, who used to be a great hunter says that all along 

 the river and Buffalo Creek hills, you can see bones of lambs, 

 pigs, turkeys, chickens and other game that would make a cart 

 load at the many different Fox dens in the rocks. 



Mr. Thos. Hill, farmer, Armstrong county, occasionally loses 

 a few lambs and he supposes they have been taken by Foxes, 

 but as he lives several miles back from the North hill they 

 don't molest him very much. 



Mr. Homer Iseman, formerly a farmer but now an oil and 

 gas driller, relates what he witnessed only one year ago. He 

 and Abe Thompson were drilling a well in Westmoreland 

 county. Near where they were at work was a large flock of 

 sheep and lambs. The latter were out playing one morning 

 and a large Red Fox came down to the lambs. The Fox 

 crouched down as a cat does and lay there motionless. The 

 lambs played closer and closer until they camp within a few 



