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a snowstorm. The partridges get under spruce trees to get 
shelter for the night, and they are caught by the foxes.” 
Mr. Thomas Allen of Bernardston, Franklin County, as- 
serts that he has found the remains of grouse partly eaten, 
or feathers alone remaining, where fox tracks showed 
plainly. Others have related to him similar experiences. 
One saw a fox eating a grouse. 
Mr. George E. Whitehead of Millbury, Worcester County, 
says : “ Every observing hunter or trapper can tell you the 
story of the fox’s attempt to ambush a partridge, as told by 
the tracks on the snow. One can plainly see how the fox 
took advantage of every bit of natural cover, while he 
sneaked to where he made his spring. The fact that a few 
feathers are left shows that he met with success.” 
Mr. Otis Thayer of West Quincy, Norfolk County, says 
that after the Blue Hills Reservation was closed to hunters, 
game increased very rapidly, for foxes were scarce; but as 
the foxes increased, game decreased. Formerly, he says, 
this region was good hunting ground; now he finds no 
game, but always finds foxes. They are now so plentiful 
that they are becoming destructive to poultry, as the game 
decreases. 
Mr. W. H. Aspinwall, secretary of the Massachusetts 
Bod and Gun Club, writes as follows : “ During the last 
few years I have twice, if I remember aright, found the 
place where a fox had very recently killed a partridge and 
eaten him. It was so recent an act that my setter pointed 
at the place, and I went up and found the remains of the 
partridge, and foxes’ tracks all around. The only fox that I 
ever shot I ran on quite unexpectedly while working up a 
bevy of quail. It was a young dog fox, and he was on the 
same errand that I was, for the quail flushed when I killed 
the fox. I have made a great many inquiries among the 
native hunters in our country districts, and they all believe 
that foxes and skunks, especially in the breeding season, 
are very destructive to our game birds. I have been told 
by a number that in digging out foxes that have holed they 
have found the remains of partridges, and even of the 
smaller birds, such as robins, etc. Only last week a friend 
