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two or three days old, which I believe It caught. 'Coons and 

 'Possums both catch chickens, but neither is half as bad in this 

 respect as the Red Fox. 



THE FOX A TERROR. 



"This wily and sagacious animal is not only fond of chickens 

 but he will catch ducks, turkeys and geese whenever a chance 

 is offered. He menaces the lives and happiness of all birds 

 which brood on the ground; he is a terror and most adroit in 

 this line of contemptible plunder. The great scarcity of Part- 

 ridges (Quail) in this and neighboring counties, where some 

 years ago they were quite abundant, I think is mainly due to 

 the Fox devouring the eggs and young, and the old birds too, 

 if he can catch them. However it may be, as some say, that 

 mowing machines have been, in part, the cause of the pleasing 

 call 'Bob-White' becoming so scarce; but as already stated I 

 blame the sharp-nosed Fox for the scarcity of the plump, 

 white-throated whistler. 



EVERYBODY KILLED FOXES THEN. 



"Sixty years ago, when I was a boy, everybody killed all the 

 Foxes they could; they were usually shot, as they were very 

 hard to catch in traps. About ten years ago one of our boys 

 bought a new shot gun, and early one bright spring morning 

 when the birds were singing their sweet, joyous songs of praise 

 to the Giver of all that is good, I took it and slowly made my 

 way through the dewy grass, behind a hedge row, to some rocks 

 where I knew a family of Foxes lived. Reaching the place I 

 saw an old Fox and five young ones, about half grown, devour- 

 ing one of my neighbor's ducks. I shot both barrels and killed 

 two of the young, and the rest scampered into the den in the 

 rocks. I felt well satisfied with my success and took the ani- 

 mals down to the house. 



HE PLEAD AND ALMOST CRIED FOR FOXES. 



"You can imagine my surprise when my nephew, a young 

 man of about twenty, nearly cried when he saw the dead Foxes, 

 which he said he had paid our hired man to watch so no harm 

 might come to them. He told me how they destroyed mice, 

 caught all kinds of harmful bugs, hunted grasshoppers, and 

 killed Rabbits which consumed the cabbage and barked young 

 fruit trees when deep snows covered the ground. Finally I 

 promised not to shoot any more Foxes, and the agreement has 



