Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 10:20:13 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Frantz Subject: Fox, Pheasants, Bobwhite MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable This week I met Scott, a new local farmer, whose property is less than 1/4=20 mile from our house. His farm is included in one of my atlas blocks. He=20 related an interesting tale.=20 For the past half dozen years or so it seems that a local fox hunt group has= =20 been salting our area with fox to enhance their hunts. Almost two years ago=20 Scott was mowing one of his fields when he saw five fox following him trying= =20 to catch any voles, chipmunks etc. that the mowing stirred up. Since he has=20 an interest in "ground birds" and noticed that we have none around here, he=20 decided to address this overpopulation problem. During the next few weeks he= =20 shot 27 fox. (Not to worry, there are still fox about.) Coincidence? Ten days ago a male PHEASANT (no female as yet) moved into a hedgerow on his= =20 farm. The last known pheasant from around these parts was shot 8 years ago.=20 Just this moment I heard the first BOBWHITE calling in our yard in over 15=20 years. Just in time for the Atlas. How =E2=80=98bout that?! Gail Frantz Old Hanover Rd Reisterstown, MD =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================