55 



Pigeons or Doves. 



There are many complaints regarding the killing of doves by 

 cats. Twenty-four correspondents report this. It would seem 

 difficult for a cat to catch so watchful a bird as a dove in the 

 open, but a practiced dove killer does not need to steal up very 

 near to endanger its victim. When the experienced cat has 

 crept within the proper distance it catches the dove in two 

 bounds. The first does not bring it within striking distance, 

 but with the second it often reaches the dove, already in the air, 

 and strikes it down with its forepaws. Some cats become very 

 expert at this game. Cats often miss their prey, but this is true 

 even of the swiftest hawk. 



Prof. John Robinson of Salem writes that a flock of pigeons 

 has been homing in the barn of the Robinson family for eighty 

 years, and that it has been necessary to keep up a persistent 

 and unceasing fight to protect them from cats. About twenty- 

 five years ago in the battle with the cats, 25 w^ere killed in one 

 year, 30 in another, and about 20 more in some succeeding years; 

 after that cats were killed only as special marauders became in- 

 tolerable. Pigeon breeders complain that, even when their birds 

 are confined in wire netting enclosures, cats spring upon the wire 

 by day or night, and, reaching through, tear the birds. Occa- 

 sionally a killer finds its way into a pigeon loft at night, and 

 nearly wipes out the flock. Mr. William D. Corliss of Gloucester 

 says that about thirty years ago a house cat owned by a Mr. 

 Lowe got into the dovecote of William Corliss at night and killed 

 about thirty fancy pigeons, — pouters, fantails, etc. Members 

 of the family say that this cat did not attempt to eat the birds 

 but tore open their throats and is believed to have drunk the 

 blood. Mr. Harry D. Eastman of Sherborn had a large flock of 

 fancy pigeons, but the neighbors' cats killed "over one hundred 

 dollars worth," and he gave up keeping them. 



Cats eating Eggs. 

 Harrison Weir seems to believe that cats commonly eat birds' 

 eggs in England, but I have never known a Massachusetts cat 

 to eat an egg. Sometimes the eggs in a nest are broken when 

 the mother bird is caught by a cat, but usually they are not 

 eaten, and this has always seemed characteristic of attacks by 

 cats. Nevertheless, in my reading, several instances were noted 

 where cats were seen to eat birds' eggs or hens' eggs. A cat in a 

 grocery learned to roll eggs to the floor that they might be 



