ORNITHOLOGY 



325 



Truth is Better Than False Statements. 



Brooklyn, N. Y. 

 To the Editor: 



It is not that your correspondents love 

 birds more than others do, but merely 

 that they hate cats. The first and last 

 enemy of birds is MAX — man with 

 his gun, boys with slings, air guns, 

 and stones. If extermination of any 

 one is necessary, why not dispose of 

 them, instead of the most beautiful of 

 God's creatures, the affectionate, and 

 intelligent cat? I love birds and am a 

 bird student, and I know that cats take 

 very few, and if they did, why not they, 

 as well as we? The men who talk the 

 loudest against cats, kill birds by the 

 score. I. For the pleasure of killing'. 

 II. For millinery purposes. III. For 

 collections. IV. For what they call 

 science. Here are facts. One boasts 

 that he killed 158 rose breasted gross- 

 beaks in nesting season, to see what 

 they ate!!! Another killed 152 cedar 

 waxwinks, to ascertain if they ate 

 cherries. Why should they not eai 

 cherries as well as we? A third had 

 200 king birds killed, and 300 blue jays, 

 under a pretence of economic study. 

 In the south every year 10,000 robins 

 are shot for food, and yet if a cat 

 caught a single one the newspaper & 

 would be full of it, and the community 

 in an uproar. 



The cat haters claim that it is the 

 song birds that the darling pussies 

 catch ; but they fail to say how he 

 knows it is a songster, and whether 

 they taste better than others. 



I have kept cats all my life, and in 

 different parts of the country, and have 

 always had birds nesting around my 

 house; and I know that it is very diffi- 

 cult for a cat to catch a bird. The only 

 one that is at all easy to get is the 

 English Sparrow, which soends so 

 much time upon the ground yet that 

 increases at such an enormous rate 

 every year, that it has become a prob- 

 lem. If cats exterminate birds why do 

 they not wipe out the sparrows? 



I. In nature all creatures prey upon 

 others. By eating caterpillars the 

 birds deorive us of many beautiful 

 butterflies. Shall we exterminate the 

 birds? 



II. Although the greatest enemy 01 

 birds is man, yet our dear squirrels, 

 and the red headed woodpecker some- 



times eat the nestlings, to say nothing 

 of jays, hawks and shrikes. 



III. Granted that a cat does some- 

 times succeed in catching a bird, why 

 should it not have one, as well as for 

 humans to eat quail, reed birds, or 

 spring chickens? 



It is time that all true nature lovers 

 mse up in defence of the dearest of our 

 pets, which Shakespeare calls "the 

 harmless, necessary CAT." 



L. Fanny Little. 



We fear that our enthusiastic corres- 

 pondent (who suggests in champion- 

 ing the cat that as last resort it may 

 be well to dispose of men and boys I) 

 has overlooked the fact that no other 

 correspondent thus far has desired to 

 "dispose"' of anything but so to regulate 

 the care of cats and birds that not so 

 much disposing will be done. If all 

 cats were properly fed and cared for, 

 and given a standing in law, not onlv 

 the welfare of birds but that of cats 

 would be improved. A cat, whether 

 worth ten cents or five hundred dollars, 

 should be the property of the owner 

 and so regarded in law. The cat should 

 not be regarded or treated as a va- 

 grant. If the owner will properly care 

 for it. all right. If not, the law should 

 insist, and such law should be enforced. 



( >ur Arcadia is overrun with neg- 

 lected and deserted cats. The cats 

 eat birds because they must or starve. 

 The same situation prevails in many 

 other places. When summer residents 

 return to the city they should not leave 

 their cats. Cats should not be permit- 

 ted to roam at will, especially at the 

 bird nesting season. 



If any person kills or abuses my cat, 

 there should be redress in law as toi 

 any other property. But at present the 

 cat has no standing in law r . It is not 

 even afforded the protection given to 

 the wild animals. It is a curious fact 

 that so many people misconstrue the 

 efforts made in behalf of regulating the 

 care and ownership of cats. Does any 

 one regard dog regulations a.s abuse of 

 these much loved pets? When the first 

 efforts were made to give dogs a stand- 

 ing in law, did any one say it was done 

 by dog haters? It does not remedy one 

 evil to tell about others. When can 

 we get all women to understand that 

 a desire for the proper keeping of cats 



