385 



was done by Red Foxes, as they are mucli more 

 commoiii. Dr. Scbnatterly writes that farmers 

 generally tell him they lose many lambs every 

 spring by Foxes that come about chiefly at 

 night. The indignant farmers and stock raisers 

 know that Foxes commit these depredations as they 

 find the remains of lambs at the Foxes' dens among 

 the rocks. 



WHERE 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, together 

 with other kinds of plant-food they live oo, are plenti- 

 ful in and around the old slashings and abandoned log 

 and tram roads. But the noble Ruffed Grouse has for 

 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 that 

 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 trappers found to be 

 fully as plentiful as they now are when the Pheasants 

 are so scarce. Tlie farmers who live in the valleys 



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