Protecting Nests and Sitting Birds. i 7 



i^lad to adopt this idea, but they are advised not to 

 carry it out near heather, dry grass, or any crop of 

 an inflammable nature, or a general blaze may result. 

 A suggestion has been made that, as a means 

 of decoying a fox from a fence or other spot at 

 which a lot of nests are located, something in the 

 way of food should be placed close by, such as a 

 dead pigeon, rat, or rabbit. A vixen having a 

 litter is of all foxes the most assiduous hunter, and 

 on finding the meal laid ready for her she at once 

 makes off with the prize to her earth. On the 

 face of it this appears a valuable suggestion, but 

 the author happens to be acquainted with an 

 energetic keeper who practised it with anything 

 but success. He had a thick bit of hedge a few 

 score yards in length which several pairs of part- 

 ridges had adopted as a nesting site. A vixen 

 passed near it almost every evening, and a dead 

 rabbit was put down for her, to induce her to 

 return and not go too close to the hedge. It had 

 good effect for a time, but the vixen learned to 

 look for this regular meal, and what was first done 

 as an experiment became compulsory. ^^wq 

 morning the keeper found two nests ruined, 

 although he had not omitted to provide the 

 customary rabbit, and after a thorough investi- 

 gation arrived at a conclusion that the nightly feed 



C 



