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discussion we laid the destruction to foxes. It is well known 
that foxes will follow a man’s track ; hut it was not for some 
time that we found out that they were deliberately follow- 
ing us, and taking the eggs and young of all the nests, either 
on or near the ground, which we had stopped to examine. 
In the first part of June we got the first clew, when a young 
fox, following Mr. Horton, walked to within a few yards of 
him in a swamp where he had stopped to watch a Canada 
warbler. In the morning of June 19 Mr. Horton again saw 
two foxes, nearly full grown, skulking along behind him. He 
directed me to a song sparrow’s nest with six eggs which he 
had found and photographed during the morning, hut before 
I got there the eggs were taken. In fact, as many as twelve 
nests were robbed before we discovered the cause.” 
Mr. I. Chester Horton corroborates this. He writes : “ I 
have spent some time the last two years in photographing 
birds’ nests on or near the ground, and was sorry to find 
in 1904 that nearly all the nests I visited were robbed and 
destroyed. One song sparrow’s nest was robbed a few hours 
after I visited it, apparently by some animal that had fol- 
lowed my track. One morning, while watching a bird, I 
concealed myself in the branches of a small pine tree. While 
watching there I heard a fox bark, and soon found he was 
coming in my direction. In a few minutes two foxes ap- 
peared, following my track, and came within fifty feet of 
where I stood, stopped as though they partly detected my 
presence, and, after playing a few minutes, made off into the 
woods. On another occasion a half-grown fox, following my 
track, came within fifteen feet of where I stood, perfectly 
motionless, in a swamp. I have no doubt that foxes dis- 
covered that I was seeking birds’ nests, and followed me and 
robbed the nests I found. While photographing nests I found 
three oven-birds’ nests, within a radius of a few hundred 
feet, one being partly built, the other two with freshly laid 
eggs. I waited several days and visited them again. I 
should have stated that one of these nests was about five feet 
from a path, and, knowing that something was following me 
and destroying nests, I did not move out of the path in visit- 
ing this nest. The nest that I found partly built I photo- 
