50 



Bird -Lore 



to keep it, will be willing to pay the cat 

 tax; if not, the law should compel them 

 so to do. The progen^^ of the dog is re- 

 stricted, why not that of the cat? In cer- 

 tain oriental lands where this is not the 

 case, pariah dogs are a nuisance; so are 

 pariah cats, and so would be any other 

 animal not rationally controlled by man. 

 But the fact that cats destroy birds makes 

 their question a burning one, and a 

 worthy field of labor for all Audubon 

 workers, along both lines, educational 

 and legal, "with malice toward none, with 

 charity toward all." — Emily G. Hunt, 

 ^[.D., Pasadena, Cal. 



The Destructiveness of Cats 



In 1888, we built a new home and made 

 a secluded garden especially for the birds, 

 planting trees, shrubs, vines and plants in 

 profusion. The high back fences, topped 

 with wire netting two and one-half feet 

 wide, to keep out cats, are covered with 

 Virginia creeper. Certain corners and 

 borders are allowed to grow wild. We 

 have, each spring, a great variety of mi- 

 grants. They come and find food, water 

 and shelter in the garden, — they find a 

 haven of rest. But at night the neighboring 

 cats, also loving seclusion, make the garden 

 their rendezvous. Certainly some birds 

 have raised their broods, while many 

 choice ones have tried to nest, but have 

 been driven away, or killed, by English 

 Sparrows and cats. While the garden has 

 been a source of pleasure in many ways, 

 it has also proved a perpetual disappoint- 

 ment because of English Sparrows and 

 cats. It is distressing to find, every year, 

 under vines and bushes, bunches of feath- 

 ers and, too, little feet of one's favorite 

 birds — often choice and uncommon ones. 



Here is a partial list, ouly, of casualties 

 taken from an old diary, and is reliable: 



1898 — June 5. — A Song Sparrow l)e- 

 gan to build in a honeysuckle vine on the 

 south side of the house. 



July 5. — Five fine young Song Spar- 

 rows left the nest this morning, at eight 

 o'clock — safely. 



July 6. — At four o'clock this morning 



a neighbor's cat caught one of the birds 

 in the (my) garden. It was pitiful to hear 

 the cries of the little parents and to see the 

 young try to escape. 



July 7. — Of the five, only two of the 

 young Song Sparrows are left. The results 

 of time and patient labor of these sweet, 

 useful, little birds for a month, destroyed 

 in a few hours by cats! 



1901. — July 30. — .\ Wren's nest with 

 a full complement of eggs destroyed by a 

 cat. 



August 14. — A young Robin just 

 barely escaped a springing cat. I saved it. 



1902. — In late .\pril, a Song Sparrow 

 built a nest in some brush placed in a high 

 crotch of an elm. She brooded five eggs 

 for almost two weeks. A cat climbed up 

 one night, and destroyed the nest and ate 

 the eggs. The same week, a Wilson's 

 Thrush, or Veery, was taken by a cat in 

 one of my trees. 



July II. — .\n (jrphaned Robin raised 

 bv me, when liberated today, was caught 

 bv a cat and one wing broken — per- 

 manently disabled. 



July 30. — A cat caught a Wren on the 

 front porch and ate him. 



During May and June, many choice 

 birds were victims to cats. 



1905. — April 13. — .\ beautiful male 

 Oven bird, in song, eaten by a cat at night. 

 It roosted in a low, dense syringa bush. 

 Bluebirds building. 



April 25. — Bluebird brooding eggs. 



May 20. — Female Bluebird acciden- 

 tally shot in my garden by neighbor's boy, 

 who mistook her for an English Sparrow. 

 He shot from his own garden into mine 

 without my knowledge. Male bird faithful 

 in feeding and caring for the young 

 birds. I helped him by throwing out meat 

 and meal worms, which he fed to the 

 babies. 



Mav 25. — Five young Bluebirds left 

 their nest-box, safely today. 



June 5. — \t five o'clock this morning 

 the father Bluebird's cries took me into 

 the garden to find a cat with two of the 

 voung in her claws — a male and a female — 

 one dead, the other dying. The birds 

 were at their feeding-place, when caught. 



