SOME PEOPLE WE LIKE TO KNOW. T 
they crawl under bushes barefoot, and dart across the 
street when no one is looking. ‘They are so still, glid- 
ing on their soft feet, that no one of the bird family 
can hear them coming. So whole nestfuls of baby birds 
are gone before their mothers know it. 
Cats have learned that they are not welcome in our 
yard. If one of them slips in before we are up in the 
morning, the birds tell us by a sort of “shriek,” and 
we hurry to help them. We have seen six or seven 
different kinds of birds crying at a cat and flying at 
him at one time. They even nip at his back, and dart 
up so quickly that the cat has no chance to spring at 
them. 
The orioles and mocking-birds are our best watch- 
dogs, screaming with very angry voices at sight of a 
cat, and warning all the other birds in the yard to 
“look out.” In the orchard there were some stray cats 
that nobody owned, and we thought it right to shoot 
the hungry, thieving things. One mocking-bird, who 
had been robbed once by these cats, would point out a 
cat to us, flying on ahead, and would not jump away at 
the sharp bang of the gun. She seemed to understand 
perfectly well that we were protecting her and aiming 
at the enemy she feared so much. 
We have read how wild beasts from the jungle prowl 
around the homes of India to snatch the children and 
carry them off. How careful the mothers must be, 
always watching for the cruel animals and dreading 
their quick spring! 
