362 USEFUL BIRDS. 



to the introduction of domesticated species so long as they 

 can be kept in subjection ; neither can there be much danger 

 in introducing game birds, except that they niaj^ replace our 

 native species, which, rather, we should try to foster and 

 increase in numbers ; but there is often a possibility that 

 any introduced bird or mammal that will bring no money to 

 the pocket of the hunter or marketman may become a pest. 

 We have had such an experience with the " English " Spar- 

 row, and we may yet regret the more recent importation of 

 the European Starling. The plague of rabl)its in Australia 

 and that of the mongoose in the Island of Jamaica illustrate 

 the danger of introducing species. 



If the money, time, and thought that have been expended 

 in this work by acclimatization societies and by individuals 

 could have been utilized in protecting, domesticating, and 

 propagating useful native species, it might have given better 

 results. 



INTRODUCED FOUR-FOOTED ENEMIES. 

 Cats. 



We have already introduced into this country a terrible 

 scourge to birds, — the domestic cat. My statement hereto- 

 fore published, that the mature cat in good hunting grounds 

 kills, on the average, fifty birds a year, is certainly within 

 bounds. Kittens and half-grown cats do not catch many 

 birds, but the old cat that wanders oflf into the fields and 

 woods is terribly destructive. Of course where there are 

 many cats each one cannot kill so many birds, for there are 

 not enough birds to furnish each cat its full quota. Mr. 

 William Brewster tells of an acquaintance in Maine who said 

 that his cat killed about fifty birds a year. When asked 

 why he did not get another cat, he said that it would be of 

 no use, for the}^ were all alike. Mr. A. C. Dike writes that 

 his family owned a cat which was well cared for and a par- 

 ticular pet. They watched it through one season, and found 

 that it killed fiftv-eight birds, including the young in five 

 nests. Nearly a hundred correspondents scattered through 

 all the counties of the State report the cat as one of the 

 greatest enemies of birds. The reports that have come in 

 of the torturing and killing of birds by cats are absolutely 



