53 



of attacking them. Mr. A. W. Streeter of Winchendon asserts 

 that a hen that was beheaded and left to bleed was pounced on 

 by a cat, dragged off and partly eaten before it was found, half 

 an hour later. Mr. Daniel W. Deane of Fairhaven says that 

 he never knew a cat with a good home to kill a full-grown fowl, 

 but whenever in his long life he has found a hen killed and partly 

 eaten, he has surrounded the carcass with traps, and almost in- 

 variably got a cat the next morning, and sometimes two. Lest 

 it may be objected that circumstantial evidence is not conclu- 

 sive the testimony of eye witnesses must be given. 



Mr. Charles W. Prescott, a resident of Concord, reports that 

 he lost a large fowl that was taken out of his henhouse window, 

 which was 5 feet 6 inches from the ground. He tracked the 

 animal 400 yards, found the fowl partly eaten, took it back to 

 the henyard, lay in wait that night, and shot a large yellow cat 

 when it appeared and started to drag its prey away. He said 

 that the cat weighed almost 20 pounds. Mrs. Cora E. Pease of 

 Maiden tells of a large, cream colored Angora cat named Richard 

 MansJSeld that brought home fowls to its mistress in 1901 from a 

 neighboring poultry yard, but so far as she is aware the birds 

 were not seriously injured and were released by the cat's owner. 

 Richard was a very high-bred cat and would eat little but cream 

 and beefsteak, according to his owner. Evidently the hens were 

 taken in sport. 



IMr. Franklin P. Shumway of Melrose saw a cat spring on and 

 kill a hen that had stolen awav and made a nest in the under- 



The fowl killer. 



brush. This occurred at his country place in Forestdale about 

 May, 1912. Mr. Freeman B. Currier of Newburyport tells of a 

 cat kept in the family of Mr. James P. O'Neil which had the habit 



