37 



kept in that family was from three to eight. They were well 

 fed, but brought in birds ranging from warblers to woodcocks, 

 and left them at the feet of members of the family. Two days 

 later, when on her way to the home of a friend, she saw mem- 

 bers of the family pursuing a kitten with a bird in its mouth. 

 Within these few days another friend took her out driving, and 

 related how a cat across the way had robbed a cedar waxwing's 

 nest of five nestlings. She finds that since she has expressed an 

 interest in the matter people, out of shame, conceal from her the 

 depredations of their cats. That is a common experience. Miss 

 Stanwood has a collection of bird skins, many of which were 

 caught by cats. A naturalist whom I visited recently showed me 

 a series of song sparrows' skins. Most of the birds had been 

 killed by his two cats, which, he said, were continually catching 

 birds. Many collections of this nature have been enriched by 

 cats' victims. 



Mr. Graham Forgie of Maynard, asserts that his cat kills 

 about three birds daily. A lady recently informed me that her 

 friend had a cat of which she was very proud because it was such 

 a good hunter, and that in October it had killed and brought 

 in twelve birds in two days. Nearly all these birds were 

 myrtle warblers. Another lady reported last September that her 

 cat, then having kittens, killed and brought in on an average 

 two birds a day. During the fall migrations I have noticed that 

 some cats kill more full-grown birds than at any other time. It is 

 easy for cats to get them then for the following reasons: (1) 

 Many of the birds then on their way south are the young of the 

 year, that were reared in the great wilderness of the north, where 

 there are few if any cats, and as these birds are young and inex- 

 perienced they do not realize the dangerous character of the 

 animal. (2) The migrating sparrows feed mainly on the seeds of 

 weeds at this season of the year, and so may be caught on or 

 near the ground by the cat, which hides in the weed thickets. 

 (3) On frosty mornings, warblers and thrushes find more insect 

 food on or near the ground than higher in the trees, hence they 

 come down in gardens and cultivated fields, where cats can easily 

 hide and spring upon them. Those who feed birds on the ground 

 in winter often attract them to places where they become the 

 prey of cats, but the greatest toll is taken from the nestlings in 

 spring and summer. 



Young Birds the Chief Sufferers. — The young birds are either 

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