FORTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT. 73 



FAVORS LICENSING OK CATS. 



We recognize that the subject of the licensing of cats has been one of 

 pleasant jest and that it is looked npon with no degree of favor by many 

 cat lovers, but we have been surprised to find that the majority of those 

 to whom the subject has been broached would heartilj^ favor such an 



act. 



As in the case of the dog, so with the cat, the most feasible way of 

 raising funds for getting rid of the useless is to license the valuable. 



When the objectors realize that cats are dangerous contagious disease 

 distributors, not only to their own kind, but to mankind as well, they 

 will insist upon a license as a protection to themselves and their pets. 

 There is no logical reason why the choice between valueless cats and 

 valuable birds should not be decided in favor of the birds. 



Among the most effective solutions of the problem of how to secure 

 more birds is the conserving and encouraging of those we have — a work 

 which is easily within the reach of all. 



The progress of civilization and land settlement, entailing the rais- 

 ing of enormous quanities of succulent plants, susceptible to the 

 ravages of injurious insects such as the cabbage worm, the potato beetle, 

 the Hessian fly and the cinchbug, and the occasional accidental in- 

 troduction of foreign species of insects such as the gypsy and brown- 

 tail moths, the San Jose scale and others, have increased the necessity 

 for more birds to destroy these increased hordes of insects. At the 

 same time in clearing for agriculture, man has largely destroyed the 

 nesting cover and natural food of the birds. 



HOW TO REMEDY CONDITIONS. 



This incongruous condition of things nuiy be largely remedied in 

 several ways: 



The replacing of the rail fence with its tangle of blackberry, sumach, 

 black-haw, choke-cherry and other plants, by the cleaner and more sight- 

 ly wire fence has improved crop conditions in many waj^s, but it has 

 deprived birds of their natural food and nesting places, both of which 

 might have been spared without material detriment. 



This defect can still be remedied by the planting of wild fruit-bearing 

 shrubs and trees along the fences. 



The antiquated highway law which requires road commissioners to 

 remove all foliage from the right-of-way should be repealed, or at least 

 modified, so that groups or lines of fruit and seed-bearing trees might 

 be spared on the public domain for this purpose as well as to' beautify 

 the landscape. 



Many careful fruit growers are supplying nesting boxes in their 

 orchards for the bluebird and similar species, to replace the cavities 

 common in neglected orchards, with beneficial results. 



An artificial food supply and shelter should be furnished for the 

 winter residents which are among the most beneficial birds in their 

 capacity as scavengers of insects in their winter stages. 



Carelessness in these respects has permantly driven some species from 



