BAILEY 



BIRD PROTECTION 



205 



birds for ten years has been the regular hunting ground for a half 

 dozen cats. They are just as regular at their meals as are the 

 birds. This feeding place has been discontinued because it was 

 merely a handy place for hungry cats. Feeding birds in many 

 cases is simply feeding cats. Feeding stations may be established 

 far enough away from town so that the cat will not follow. There 

 are ways of outwitting the cats in the case of some birds like wood- 

 peckers, nuthatches and the like but care needs to be taken in the 

 matter of the location of the feeding box. 



After all, it seems rather unfair that a boy who shoots a song-bird 

 is liable to arrest and fine and possible imprisonment while a person 

 may keep, without a particle of responsibility, a dozen cats each of 

 which catches a song bird every day for a year and the law provides 

 no penalty. Of course we can not arrest the cat under the law but 

 the cat that roams should not have a place in the law. It should 

 be classed with sewer rats, weasels and other vermin. 



New York state is considering the question of licensing cats in 

 order that the worthless and homeless cats may be known and 

 legally put out of the way. Some opposition has been offered by 

 the humane societies on the giound that the wearing of a collar 

 and a tag endangers the life of a cat when it is crawling around 

 through brush and trees. It would seem that any cat that is hung 

 is deserving of its fate for it is probably catching the birds that 

 some child is feeding. Speaking of cruelty how about the cruel 

 habit of the cat in playing wich the birds it has maimed. There 

 is more cruelty here than would be possible if a few cats were caught 

 by the neck. It seems unfortunate that a law that would be so 

 helpful to bird protection is opposed by some, not all, of the 

 humane societies. If the law is delayed, just so much| farther 

 away is the day of abvmdant birds. 



If a Cat is Worth Anything it is Worth the Cost of a License 



