CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL 



239 



fORRESPONDENCE 

 , v -' ^f^ and Inform / 



Information 



or 



The Cat and Bird Problem. 



Secane, Pa., 

 To the Editor : 



You have recently and I think 

 very properly published something' on 

 the cat and bird problem, rightly giv- 

 ing both sides a chance at it but it is 

 at least amusing to read some of the 

 opinions expressed. That old fault in 

 reasoning is always too often apparent, 

 whereby the declaration of anothei 

 fault seems to excuse or diminish the 

 fault mainly considered. As a matter 

 of fact so indisputably proven as to be 

 quite beyond contradiction the cat as 

 well as the small boy and rifle, the pot 

 hunter and the so-called sportsman are 

 all of them just as destructive to birds 

 as they well can be, only those small 

 species escaping them that nest in re- 

 mote regions as the migrants and shyer 

 inhabitants of deeper forests. These 

 latter are benefited by the hunter and 

 trapper destroying so many of their 

 wild enemies and I have never before 

 observed so many migrants during this 

 last spring* and fall. 



The ground-nesting species and 

 those that nest upon the larger limbs 

 of trees to which cats can readily gain 

 access are the main sufferers from 

 Felis domesticus. A well fed house cat 

 not usually able to take adult wild 

 birds will break up nest after nest of 

 the young or setting birds and what 

 observer has not known this to occur 

 many times. But nesting birds pay 

 small attention to the presence of a 

 cat in any locality for the reason that 

 it is within their hereditary experience 

 when selecting the nest to ignore 

 weasels, minks, raccoons, opossums, 

 wildcats, snakes, red squirrels, etc., as 

 once known in the wild state, though 

 often a prey to these creatures. Birds 

 will continue to exist in spite of the 

 domestic cat just as they did when 

 their wild enemies were common. It 

 is the combination of destructive agen- 

 cies that are lessening the numbers 

 of many species of birds that nest in 



more or less well inhabited sections. 

 There have never been so few house 

 wrens, bluebirds, thrushes, robins, na- 

 tive sparrows and other similar species 

 as now, for which the cat, the boy and 

 the air rirle are chiefly responsible. 



It is very true that the English spar- 

 row is a large factor in lessening the 

 number of box building birds in many 

 localities. This may be easily over- 

 come by bird lovers. The wren box 

 entrance may be made too small for the 

 sparrows, the bluebird box and crested 

 flycatcher box may be fastened to trees 

 in the woods or orchard and so low 

 down as to not be attractive to spar- 

 rows ; and pole boxes in which martins 

 and bluebirds may nest may be kept 

 free of the sparrows by violently shak- 

 ing the pole just after dark when the 

 sparrows are roosting or beginning to 

 nest within and before the martins have 

 appeared or the bluebirds selected their 



nesting sites. 



S. F. Aaron. 



To Prevent Neglect of Cats. 



Oradell, New Jersey. 

 To the Editor : 



The cat evil is due to two circum- 

 stances — one, as you say, being that 

 most pernicious habit that some per- 

 sons have of turning their pet cats 

 loose to forage for themselves when 

 they go away for the season (or for 

 good) ; the other is the owning of male 

 and female cats by irresponsible per- 

 sons. My suggestion is that licenses 

 shall be issued for the keeping of neu- 

 ter or altered male cats (special licenses 

 being issued by breeders, who shall 

 keep their cats in restraint,) with the 

 stipulation that they shall provide food 

 and shelter for them, or forfeit the li- 

 cense. These cats should w r ear collars 

 with tags bearing owners' name and 

 license number. You would then need 

 a "cat catcher," controlled in such a 

 way that he could not with impunity 

 remove collars from cats in order to in- 

 crease his income unfairly, as I have 



