The Audubon Societies 



165 



coming, she disappeared like a streak, and 

 did not show herself again, although we 

 were sure she watched us from some safe 

 blind of her own. But in time she became 

 accustomed to us and would not leave 

 when we worked openly in front of the nest. 

 While thus engaged she would run from 

 from one clump of bushes to another till 

 she resembled a crouching cat. Sometimes 

 she stopped in an open spot when she 

 knew our eyes were upon her, and tried 

 to wallow herself into the very sand, at 



the same time making a tine whining 

 sound, much like a young baby. The 

 young responded with the same crying 

 noise, and by snapping their bills when 

 she was feeding them. 



She was a wary creature! Many times 

 from the blind we looked into her yellow 

 eyes, but ever her crest went up and her 

 bill would snap, and we knew we were 

 discovered. By kindness you can make 

 friends with a Road-runner; but where is 

 the man who can outwit one? Not I! 



FACTS ABOUT CATS 



By EDWARD H. FORBUSH 



In preparation for a bulletin on the 

 economic status of the cat I have had 

 forty-three towns and villages in seven 

 counties of Massachusetts canvassed to 

 get information from owners and lovers of 

 cats. In this work 271 persons were 

 found who were willing to give informa- 

 tion, of whom 51 had no cats at the time, 

 although most of them formerly had cats. 

 The others kept 559 cats, of which 43 

 would not kill rats, and 227 killed birds. 



Frequently cat-owners denied that 

 their own cats killed birds, but accused 

 those of their neighbors. If we were to 



A Rufled Grouse killed by a cat uu lebruary 9, 

 igiS, at East Milton, Mass. Its throat was torn 

 open. The bird was still alive when the cat was 

 frightened away. — E. H. Forbush. 



accept these statements the number of 

 cats killing birds, as given above, would 

 be increased. In fact, no one knows how 

 many birds his own cat kills, to say noth- 

 ing of those of his neighbors, e.xcept in the 

 few cases where cats are kept confined, 

 or where they are overfed and are too 

 indolent to chase or kill anything. Not 



many such cats are kept among farmers, 

 where our investigations chiefly were 

 made. Most of these cats were allowed 

 to roam at will, and 405 of them were 

 allowed to roam at night. It is well known 

 that these nocturnal wanderers are very 

 destructive to bird-life, as it is at night, 

 mainly, that they catch the mother-birds 

 on their nests, and their best chances for 

 bird-catching come early in the morning, 

 when birds are most active and when they 

 come to the ground for food, drink, and 

 nesting-materials. 



No one knows how many birds his cat 

 eats at night, although some cats bring 

 more or less of their game to the house. 

 When the investigation was completed, a 

 series of questions was prepared and sent 

 out to 1,500 persons. About 400 returned 

 the blank well filled, and these replies 

 showed that 125 species of birds killed 

 by cats have been identified by the writers, 

 but many were unidentified. The Robin 

 heads the list, as it is reported by 272 

 observers. The various Sparrows, Warb- 

 lers and Thrushes come next; 75 report 

 the Bluebird, 72 the English Sparrow, 52 

 the Catbird, 46 the Song Sparrow, 42 the 

 Barn Swallow, and 34 the Slate-colored 

 Junco. Most of the birds noted as killed 

 by cats are of the most common and use- 

 ful species, but 44 report the Bob-white, 

 46 the Rufled Grouse, 11 the Woodcock, 

 and II the Ring-necked Pheasant. 



It is interesting to note the number of 



