BIRD STUDY 27 
The thoughtless bird photographer may be a bird enemy. 
In photographing birds, leaves and twigs should never be re- 
moved. They may be tied back to let light in for the picture, 
but should always be carefully replaced. When they are torn 
away the nest is almost sure to be rifled. Birds know how to 
place their nests so as to protect them best and when their in- 
stinctive plans are disarranged their treasures are endangered. 
Everything about a bird’s nest should be left precisely as found. 
And even while photographing one should be careful not to al- 
low direct sunlight to fall upon very young birds, as it is al- 
most sure death to them. 
Boys with air guns and other guns are sometimes bird 
enemies while not meaning to be such. The writer once came 
upon two fine boys of his acquaintance in an orchard shoot- 
ing English Sparrows, as they thought. They were shooting 
Tree Sparrows that had just arrived from the north to spend 
the winter with us. Sparrows are difficult to tell apart, and 
when we shoot English Sparrows it is safest to shoot those 
near houses, so as to be sure that we are killing real bird ene- 
mies. 
There is no greater enemy of birds than the household 
cat. Cats are natural hunters; they easily climb trees to get 
at the nests; and young birds upon the lawn are entirely at 
their mercy. It has been estimated that cats kill one half of 
all young Robins in Vermillion every summer. 
The list of bird enemies is long and it is not a pleasant 
task to write about them. It is important for us to know a few 
of them, for the more we know of these enemies the better 
friends we will be to the birds, especially as they trust us and 
bring their nests to our very doors for protection. 
