364 USEFUL BIRDS. 



Possibly no individual cat can kill as many birds in a 

 season as a single Cooper's Hawk, but there are probably a 

 hundred cats in the State to each bird Hawk. A friend who 

 was raising Pheasants near a village was obliged to kill more 

 than two hundred cats in a few 3'ears. Another Pheasant 

 raiser, far from any village, found it necessary to kill about 

 two hundred wandering cats the first year. He was troubled 

 by Hawks also, l)ut the number seen and killed was com- 

 paratively small. Such evidence goes to show that the cat 

 is particularly attracted by young birds. Dogs are less 

 destructive than cats, but thej^ kill some birds, and eat 

 some birds' eggs. 



NATIVE FOUR-FOOTED ENEMIES. 

 There is something to be said against the fox, raccoon, 

 mink, skunk, and weasel as enemies of birds, but none of 

 these animals do much harm unless thev are unusually abun- 

 dant. In that case any one of them may become pernicious. 

 This is most true of the fox and the weasel and least true 

 of the skunk, which is a great insect killer. Nevertheless, 

 the fox and the weasel kill many mice and other small mam- 

 mals, and so are of some service to the farmer. The relation 

 of squirrels to birds is more important. 



Squirrels. 



Some individual squirrels are habitual nest robbers. This 

 includes all species, but the red squirrel is the worst cul- 

 l)rit. Where squirrels have the nest-robbing habit they 

 ma^' do more harm among birds than any other mammal 

 except the cat. They are active, can climb to almost any 

 bird's nest, and can defend themselves when attacked by the 

 parent birds. Red squirrels and gray squirrels will rob 

 nests either on the ground or in trees, taking eggs or young 

 as they find them. The chipmunk usually molests only those 

 nests that are on or near the ground. 



The squirrels about my home in Wareham have this habit 

 to some extent. It may have been acquired, but in one 

 case, at least, it seems to have been inherited or instinc- 

 tive. Some young red squirrels were taken from the nest 



