ORNITHOLOGY 



->39 



flight are particularly interesting. 

 Everyone knows that these birds al- 

 ways fly in single file behind their lead- 

 ers, but it is now proved that the wild 

 ducks execute every movement with a 

 wonderful simultaneousness and de- 

 gree of precision. If, for example, the 

 leading duck at the head of the rile 

 changes the position of a wing in order 

 to fly either higher or lower, all of the 

 others make the same movement, ap- 

 parently at the same moment. The 

 average speed of wild ducks in flight is 

 proved at 65^-2 miles an hour when they 

 are flying upwards and 69 miles an 

 hour when flying horizontally, which 

 agrees with the estimate which has 

 been previously made. — Forest and 

 Stream. 



The Slaughter of the Innocents. 



BY THE REVEREND MAXLEV B. TOWXSEXD. 

 NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



The most destructive enemy of bird 

 life at the present time is undoubtedly 

 the domestic cat. The cat, like all the 

 Felidae, is a highly predatory creature. 

 Multitudes of birds, especially the 

 young in the nest and those just out of 

 it, fall an easy prey to the cat's insati- 

 able love of killing. Our cities are 

 overrun with vagabond cats. Large 

 numbers have run wild in the woods, 

 subsisting upon the country. The low- 

 est estimate of the number of song 

 and game birds destroyed by cats in the 

 United States every year is 125,000,000. 

 The number is actually nearer ten times 

 this figure. So destructive are cats 

 to game that many sportsmen shoot 

 every cat visible in the woods. This 

 they do through no animosity toward 

 the cat, but in the interest of bird and 

 game conservation. 



Two experiences this year on mv own 

 grounds brought home to the writer a 

 personal knowledge of the feline peril to 

 the birds. A pair of robins built a nest in 

 the woodbine of my front porch where 

 it was well sheltered bv the overhang- 

 ing eaves. In due time the blue green 

 eggs hatched into four hungry young- 

 sters. Then there were livelv times in- 

 deed — the parents hustling from morn- 

 ing till night to fill those four wide 

 open mouths. The happy family 

 thrived apace. But one fateful night 

 a neighbor's cat climbed to the nest, 

 snatched the brooding mother from her 



little ones and escaped. Then did the 

 male bird show of what stuff he was 

 made. He at once assumed entire 

 charge of the family. From the 

 earliest peep of dawn to the last faint 

 gray of daylight he was "on the job," 

 fetching food for the clamorous grow- 

 ing brood. But as they grew, their 

 appetites increased. The parent bird 

 was unable to get food fast enough and 

 in sufficient quantities. It was a phy- 

 sical impossibility. His stout little 

 heart kept him at it, but no robin could 

 do the work. One day we noticed 

 another robin helping. At first we 

 thought that "father" had got married 

 again for the sake of his children, until 

 we discovered that the new bird was 

 another male, perhaps one that had also 

 lost his mate. The two male robins 

 raised that brood successfully. A 

 volley of stones whenever the cat 

 appeared kept her at a distance. 



At almost the same time another 

 tragedy occurred at our home. A pair 

 of chipping sparrows built a hair lined 

 nest in the vines of our back porch. 

 The eggs hatched and all was going on 

 well when a maurading cat caught 

 both parents. The young, of course, 

 miserably perished. 



The writer is not an enemy of the 

 cat. But he submits that it is high 

 time for this terrible slaughter of the 

 innocents to be stopped or at least 

 greatly minimized. Owners of cats 

 should watch their pets in the birds' 

 nesting season and never let them loose 

 at night, and in the daytime only after 

 a full meal. The most effective way to 

 solve the problem is to do with the cat 

 what has been done with the dog — lic- 



Phologiaph bv W. L. Finley, Oregon. 

 CAT WITH ROBIN. 



