Fox Tales

Many residents have reported spotting foxes in the past few weeks. They dart across lawns and roads, often so quickly that you’re not quite sure what you saw. The look like small dogs, with brown fur and a touch of white on their tails. I have seen several on my street and also saw one fly across Mamaroneck Road at 5:30 am last week. An agile contractor caught this fox, with a squirrel in its mouth, running across the lawn of a Brewster Road home.

Given the number of reports, it no longer seems as if we have one or two in the neighborhood. It appears their numbers are on the rise.

Could this area have originally been the home to packs or “skulks” of foxes? Undoubtedly Fox Meadow got its name from the presence of a large fox population who lived there. According to Village history Caleb Heathcote purchased “the Fox Meadow” from the Indian Chiefs who presumably named the area.

Here is information on the history of Scarsdale courtesy of the Village website:

Deep in the historic background of Scarsdale is a romantic twist of fate. In 1666 during Charles the Second's reign, a sixth son Caleb was born in the family of Mayor Heathcote of Chesterfield in the Hundred of Scarsdale, Derbyshire, England. Some twenty-six years later, after his intended wife had transferred her affections to one of his older brothers, a disappointed Caleb Heathcote took his patrimony and set sail for New York. Prospering in trade, he soon became one of the leading men of the colony and began to buy up land in Westchester. At the end of the century he purchased from Ann Richbell the claims her husband had established to land running nine miles back from Long Island Sound to the Bronx River and averaging two miles in width. Shortly thereafter he purchased the Fox Meadow from the Indian chiefs, among whom was Cohawney, and then acquired a bit more land to the south along the Bronx River, rounding out his holdings to the town line in Eastchester.

If you have fox photos please send them to: scarsdalecomments@gmail.com and share any fox findings below.