20 



idea of their ubiquity. Hundreds roam about the country towns. 

 On the early snows of winter their tracks may be found on 

 nearly every farm in the land. There is no forest or woodland so 

 remote that the cats have not penetrated. In 1912 I visited the 

 Maine woods in December, and there, in the snow, miles from 

 any human dwelling, were more tracks of cats than of any other 

 creature. 



Great Numbers of Vagrant Cats in Cities. 



It is a well-known fact that cities are overrun by vagrant cats, 

 many of them hungry and cold in winter, finding a precarious 

 living by catching mice and rats and visiting "dumps" and 

 garbage cans. Many are fleabitten, mangy and diseased, and the 

 suffering among them must be great. All such cats should be 

 executed, as a measure of humanity and public safety. Humane 

 societies have undertaken this task in Boston, New York and 

 other cities. The Animal Rescue League of Boston has done a 

 great work in rescuing numbers of homeless, starving cats and 

 humanely destroying them, also in disposing of surplus kittens. 

 Mr. Huntington Smith, managing director of the league, has 

 been kind enough to give me the following account of the cats 

 handled by the association during ten years, and the disposition 

 made of them: — 



Year. 



Received. 



Destroyed. 



Placed in 

 Homes. 



1905 



1906 



1907 



1908,. 



1909 



1910 



1911 



1912 



1913 



1914, 



AKKregates, ten years, 1905-14, 



14.400 

 16,151 

 14,157 

 15,330 

 20,414 

 23,089 

 23,691 

 27.670 

 29,525 

 31.122 



13.791 

 15,657 

 13,710 

 14,915 

 20,042 

 22.385 

 22,529 

 27.295 

 29,078 

 30.688 



649 

 494 

 447 

 313 

 372 

 310 

 229 

 356 

 447 

 536 



215,449 



210,090 



2,908 



It is noteworthy that in this time the number of cats destroyed 

 annually increased more than 200 per cent. This seems to show 

 an increasing multitude of cats annually bred in the city, but 

 Mr. Smith explains this as follows: — 



The increase in the number of cats taken by us is due, first, to a growing 

 tendency on the part of the public in and around Boston to turn over to us 

 animals that they cannot or do not wish to care for; to increased eflficiency 



