Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-09-14
THE SANITY FOX.
Finds a Friend at Last Who Brushes
Up His Reputation.

/ have hunteQ IOXeS TOT nearly
three score years, and I have yet to
see where they have ever caught or
killed a domestic fowl or ruffed
grouse or young lamb, though l have
in the winter often seen where they
have tried to catch grouse that were
roosting under the snow, but never
saw where they had succeeded in
catching one. 1 have very often seen
where they have caught our common
northern hare, and only once have I
ever seen them in the vicinity Of the
numerous fiocks Of geese and turkeys
that are roaming about our fields.
One evening, years ago. while driv-
ing in the town of Highgate, near the
Canada line, as 1 approached farm
house I saw down in the pasture
some three hundred yards away
group of horses standing with their
heads together and heels out, and
nearby was a flock Of geese and gos-
lings waddling up toward the house.
Very soon the horses broke ranks.
and with heads down, started along
toward the geese. and then saw that
they were following a fox. The fox
stopped and faced the horses which
Immediately whirled with their heads
together with heels out as though to
repel the attack of an enemy. The
fox then trotted along after the geese
and the horses broke ranks again and
followed it. 1 called to the people
in the house to come out and get
their geese which were then near the
road. The fox heard me, and Of
course, bolted for the woods.
Now regarding weasels. They may
kill chickens, but If so, have never
had positive proof of it. A friend
who was raising chickens was losing
a chicken or two every day, and he
laid 1t to the weasels. His barn and
outbuildings were overrun with rats.
and a couple Of weasels had come In
among them; one of the weasels he
found in the yard killed, bitten
through the head. One morning he
q
yard with a chicken in its mouth.
He shot the cat and lost no more
chickens, and the remaining weasel
soon cleaned out the rats and is evil
IDENTIFY now living on mice, as it does
not molest the poultry.
A near neighbor of his was also
troubled with rats about his barn. A
mink came in and cleaned them out,
and last fall the farmer foolishly shot
the mink for its pelt. Before spring
the rats were back again as thick as
ever. He now wishes that he had let
the mink remain, as the price that he
received for the mink skin does not
pay for the damage done every month
by the rats.
Any observing farmer in this vi
cinity will admit that it Is only dur
ing the years that foxes and weasels
are scarce that their fields and or
chards are overrun with mice, and
the damage the mice do amounts to
far more than the value Of the poul-
try on their farms. Again, take the
much-maligned skunk; he can be
classed among the friends of the
farmer. While we have seen in
stances of his taking eggs and even
poultry, his principal diet is grubs,
grasshoppers, crickets, wire-worms,
and when near a potato field, pota-
to bugs. But for all this, let him be
caught in a potato field, he is surely
dogged or stoned to death, and per-
haps by the very farmer he is be-
friending. The same farmer will pay
out dollars for paris green and in
hired mans wages to destroy the very
bugs that the skunk would have eat
en- If left alone.
We are living and learning, though
some of us learn slowly, that it is
hard for us to get over early preju-
dices. Nevertheless, we may expect
at no very distant date to see laws
made and enforced to protect the
farmers friends, each Of the above
named animals.
Among the large number Of dogs
that are in the country there is an
occasional one that will kill sheep,
so there may be a few foxes and wea-
sells that have a fondness for poultry
and young lambs. Though, If so, they
have never come under my personal
Observation-Disclosures and Stream.
-