154 American Birds 



a number of good photographs, but later, when the young 

 were hatched and we tried to get pictures at the nest, the 

 birds resented such interference. We tried for several days 

 with the camera at the nest, but the birds would not go 

 near it when we were there. Then we focused on the 

 top of the dogwood where the sparrows were accustomed 

 to light, and covering the camera with limbs and leaves 

 we got some pictures. 



Once or twice I saw a dangerous-looking cat in the 

 next yard from the sparrows' lunch-table. We have tried 

 every lawful way of getting rid of stray cats, for they are 

 the most persistent enemies the birds have. Some one has 

 estimated that on an average a stray cat will kill fifty 

 songsters a year. Of course, certain cats will kill many 

 more than this. Most states have laws that prevent man 

 from killing the birds. A man may be fined for killing 

 a bird, but he may keep a cat that kills a hundred. Why 

 can't the owners of cats see that they are well supplied 

 with food, so that they do not have to hunt birds for a 

 ^'vmg? Why can't people who own cats keep them at 

 home or make some effort to teach them to let birds alone? 



The next day when we scattered crumbs for the spar- 

 rows we found several feathers that looked as if they 

 were from the tail or wing of one of our birds, and when 

 neither of the white-crowns appeared the indications 

 looked bad. If the old cat had killed the mother, the 

 young might be starving. 



I hurried up the hill to look after the orphans. There 

 was not a sparrow in sight. When I climbed up to the 

 dogwood I pushed the ferns aside, and four gaping 

 mouths were stretched up to me. It looked as if I were 



