CONTENTS 



xiu 



XIV. Bird Enemies Introduced by Man: The Cat 



AND THE English Sparrow 135 



The Cat. 



Method of doing harm — Opinions of bird-students 

 — Number of birds killed by cats — Cats as disease- 

 carriers — Remedies. 

 The English Sparrow. 



Ways in which it is harmful — Remedies: — Shoot- 



MichiganDucksMigrateEasily, 

 Waddle 100 Feet Across Street 



BRIGHTON, Mich., March 20 

 (^).— Some animals may be dumb 

 but not the ducks of Brighton. 

 They have solved the whole tiring 

 business of fall and spring migra- 

 tion. While most of their brethren 

 are flying thousands of miles in 

 the spring from the warm South- 

 lands to the North the Brighton 

 contingent does the job in about 

 400 short steps.. 



Late last month the fifty-odd 

 feathered thinkers based here took 

 care of the whole matter in about 

 thirty minutes. 



When the call of spring stirs the 

 flock mto action the Brighton 

 mallards climb the sides of their 

 Jittle mill pond, waddle about 100 

 feet across Main Street and down 

 the opposite bank- into the other 

 half of the pond. 



This semi-annual performance 

 began eight years ago when a 

 flock of wild mallards passed over 

 inis little town of 1,500 and hap- 



pened to look down. What they 

 saw sold them on the spot. . 



It must have looked like a duck 

 paradise. The mill pond is bi- 

 sected by the city's main street. 

 On the north the pond was frozen 

 over, but on the south side, in the 

 open water created by a small^ 

 dam, was a small flock of domestic 

 white mallards. The banks of the 

 pond were liberally sprinkled with 

 bread crumbs and other delicacies 



The wild ducks went down and 

 there most of them stayed. They 

 learned the trick of the short-, 

 haul migration and were content ' 

 Every year they are joined by aio 

 few new converts. The staff of a' 

 near-by fire station is conscien- 

 tious about the food supply. So 

 with food and housing assured! 

 the 100-foot march twice a year 

 IS the ducks' only responsibility, 

 . The people of Brighton say it's 

 just a matter of I. Q. Some have 

 It and some don't. ,9 



