73 
of mine, who is an extremely good observer and sportsman, 
told me that he found the remains of a robin which a fox 
had just killed. I believe that the chief difficulty is in the 
breeding season, when it is quite easy for foxes to catch the 
hen bird on a nest. I think that most people agree that, as 
the foxes have increased tremendously in numbers in the 
neighborhood of our reservations, such as the Blue Hills 
Reservation, the partridges have decreased in about the 
same proportion. That foxes have increased in eastern 
Massachusetts is proved by the evidence that within the last 
few years a great deal of poultry has been destroyed, even 
in such a closely populated district as Chestnut Hill; and 
foxes have been seen quite frequently. I believe that the 
State should in some way make a decided stand in destroy- 
ing the vermin in the reservations, if they desire to make 
this a favorite breeding ground for the birds. 77 Consider- 
able further evidence of this same character was received. 
There is at least one reservation where foxes are not pro- 
tected. Mr. Charles P. Price, superintendent of the Mid- 
dlesex Fells Reservation, tells me that the foxes have been 
all killed or driven out of the reservation, and that game 
birds have increased there. About fifteen foxes per year 
were killed for three years. 
Mr. Henry B. Bigelow of Cohasset says: “ Foxes are 
particularly destructive to quail and partridges in this neigh- 
borhood ; the entrance to every fox hole is strewn with their 
feathers; and to my certain knowledge one fox, in 1899, 
killed, during the autumn, six out of a covey of twelve to 
fourteen quail. Partridges also suffer, as shown by the 
presence of their feathers about the dens, as do also domes- 
tic fowls. 77 
Mr. S. J. Harris of East Dedham writes : “ I once shot 
at a fox having a partridge in his mouth. I did not know 
that it was a partridge when I fired at the fox, but he 
dropped it when I fired, and of course I got the par- 
tridge. 77 
The limits of this report will not permit the printing of 
half the evidence received against the fox. Some evidence 
from other parts of the State is given in brief below. “ A 
