92

Concord, Mass.
1916.
Aug. 30
to
Nov. 4

Ruffed Grouse
Eaten by Fox

  Ruffed Grouse were somewhat more numerously
represented than usual in September, throughout woodland
bordering on our farm lands. By day they especially
frequented the swampy Run, at evening certain parts of
the Berry Pasture where wild grape vines, trailing over
trees & bushes, were loaded with ripening fruit fruit.
The crop of one killed and eaten there by a Fox was
filled with these grapes which had been swallowed whole.
Signs were not wanting to show that the unfortunate
bird had been seized, presumably at night, while roosting
only a few feet above the ground in a bushy young white
pine and that the Fox had taken her thence to an
opening scarce ten yards away. After biting off
many if not most of her feathers, as is customary with
all members of his tribe, when dealing with similar prey, he had apparently devoured every
particle of flesh and bone except the crop; the entrails: