33 



such experiences probably would be enough to drive a robin away 

 from the neighborhood, or to render it too cautious to be caught 

 again, but Miss Winslow says that for several summers the cat 

 "kept up this practice." This tale illustrates the ability of the 

 cat to catch birds. ^ 



Birds cut by Claws of Cats may die. 



It is probable that some of these robins died eventually from 

 the blows of the cat's claws. It is not uncommon that a bird 

 caught "apparently uninjured" is in reaUty fatally hurt by teeth 

 or claws. In capturing so active a creature as a bird the cat 

 must work quickly and savagely. Most of the birds thus taken 

 are struck down by the extended claws, and since there are 

 many authentic cases of so-called "blood poisoning" among 

 human beings resulting from cat clawings and cat bites, some of 

 which are said to have resulted fatally, in spite of medical atten- 

 tion (see page 86), many a bird which has been struck once by a 

 cat, and released apparently uninjured, may suffer a lingering 

 and agonizing death. Mr. Harry D. Eastman of Sherborn says 

 that pigeons which have been cut by the claw of a cat usually 

 "go light" and finally die, and that a gray squirrel caught by a 

 cat, taken away at once and not bitten, refused to eat, and died 

 a few days later. 



Cat Poaching for Owner. 

 Gordon Stables seems to exult in the birdcatching habits of his 

 pets. He uses the poaching habits of the cat to illustrate its 

 devotion to its master by telling of a poor plowman who was ill. 

 Meat was prescribed by the doctor, but the poor man was un- 

 able to buy it. Every day, however, until 

 he recovered the cat brought him in a 

 rabbit or a bird.^ Miss Repplier tells of a 

 lady near Belfast whose cat went poaching 

 for her every day, thus providing her with 

 partridges illegally, as she had no legal 

 right to the possession of the birds; ^ but 



this advantage of the law is sometimes taken by owners of cats. 

 (See pages 45, 46, 47, 48.) Stables tells of a young cat that lost 

 a leg in a trap. During the time he was confined to the house 

 the old cat brought him birds and mice daily.* 



' Winslow, Helen M.: Concerning Cats, My Own and Some Others, 1900, p. 242. 



* Stables, Gordon: The Domestic Cat, 1876, pp. 109, 110. 



* Repplier, Agnes: The Fireside Sphinx, 1901, p. 242. 



* Stables, Gordon: The Domestic Cat, 1876, pp. Ill, 112. 



