BIRD ENEMIES INTRODUCED BY MAN 149 



place marked tags or collars on their cats, and pro- 

 visions are made for the humane disposal of any 

 cats not thus marked. 



This licensing should be accompanied by some 

 plan by means of which unlicensed stray cats would 

 be disposed of. The fee from the licenses might be 

 used to employ some one to capture and kill in some 

 humane way the vagrant cats. In Montclair an 

 animal warden has been appointed to look after the 

 enforcement of the cat and dog ordinances. The 

 license fees have been sujBBcient to pay his salary. 

 The destruction of these vagrant cats is a kindness 

 to the cats, as during the colder months of the 

 year they are not able to secure enough food and 

 consequently live in a half-starved condition. In 

 New York City alone, the Society for the Preven- 

 tion of Cruelty to Animals killed, during 1915, 

 175,000 sick, injured, and homeless cats. The mat- 

 ter of disposing of stray cats concerns the cat-lover 

 quite as much as the bird-lover. 



Little can be done in training cats to let birds 

 alone. It is the exceptional cat that can be thus 

 trained. Belling the cat is another method of little 

 value. During the nesting-season of birds cats 

 should be shut up, especially at night and during 

 the early morning, and at all times should be well 

 fed so that they will not have hunger added to their 

 natural instinct as a stimulus to catch birds. The 

 following note is contributed to " Bird-Lore " by 



