45 



each year.^ Through a typographical error, which was corrected 

 in a later edition, the estimate allowed but 1 cat to a farm, but 

 2 w'as the figure used in the calculation, and our recent canvass 

 seems to show that the farms average almost 3 cats each. The 

 estimate has been deemed excessive by some, but has been re- 

 garded generally as conservative. Dr. George W. Field, chair- 

 man of the Massachusetts Commission on Fisheries and Game, 

 estimates that there is at least 1 stray cat to every 100 acres in 

 the State, and that each kills on the average at least 1 bird every 

 ten days through the season, making the annual destruction of 

 birds by stray cats in the State approximate 2,000,000. Dr. 

 A. K. Fisher, in charge of Economic Investigations of the Bio- 

 logical Survey, estimates that the cats of New York State de- 

 stroy 3,500,000 birds annually. Mr. Albert H. Pratt calculates 

 that the farm cats of Illinois kill 2,508,530 birds yearly. Vari- 

 ous estimates have been made concerning the number of birds 

 killed annually by cats in New England. They vary from 500,000 

 to 5,000,000. Considering the above figures my own seem fairly 

 conservative. 



Destruction of Game Birds by Cats. 



Perhaps the game bird most commonly killed by the cat in 

 southern New England is the bobwhite. This species, one of 

 the most useful of all birds to the farmer, highly valued as a 

 game bird, frequents grass fields, gardens, grain fields, and weed 

 and bush thickets where the cat hunts. Sportsmen say that 

 they very often find cats in "quail covers," and not infrequently 

 see them with the birds in their mouths. 



Bobwhites. 

 Mr. Fred A. Olds saw a cat spring into the air and come down 

 with a full-grown cock bobwhite in its claws.^ Col. Charles E. 

 Johnson asserts that he saw a cat with a bobwhite in its mouth 

 running toward a negro cabin. ^Yhen the colonel arrived at the 

 cabin he found a colored woman plucking the bird. She said 

 that the cat brought in birds very often. ^ Many cats are en- 

 couraged by their owners to bring in game. T. B. Johnson says 

 in "The Vermin Destroyer," that he has known several cats that 

 caught game and brought it home. These cats were highly 

 esteemed by their owners.^ (See also pages 33, 46-48.) 



^ Useful Birds and their Protection, 1907, p. 363 (Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture). 



• Forest and Stream, July 29, 1911, Vol. 77, p. 175. 



• Johnson, T. B.: The Vermin Destroyer, Liverpool, 1831, p. 27. 



