73 



The capacity of the toad is enormous. A single stomach con- 

 tained 77 myriapods or thousand-legged worms; another, 37 

 tent caterpillars; a third, 65 caterpillars of the gypsy moth; 

 and a fourth, 55 army worms. Individual toads have been seen 

 to eat as follows: No. 1, 30 full-grown celery caterpillars; No. 

 2, 86 house flies; No. 3, 90 rose bugs.^ 



The toad is a highly beneficial animal and should be protected 

 by law . and public sentiment. Every toad killed by a cat is 

 much more useful as an insect destroyer than the cat which kills 

 it. When we consider that practically all our frogs, lizards, sala- 

 manders and little snakes are insectivorous and harmless, and difi'er 

 from the toad mainly in the degree of their utility and in the 

 fact that some feed by day rather than by night, we can see that 

 the cat which kills such harmless, useful creatures is likely to 

 work much injury to the agriculturist. 



For an investigation of the food of the amphibians, see the 

 first report on the economic features of the amphibians of Penn- 

 sylvania, by H. A. Surface (Bi-monthly Zoological Bulletin of 

 the Division of Zoology of the Pennsylvania Department of 

 Agriculture, Vol. Ill, Nos. 3 and 4, May-July, 1913). 



Economic Value of Birds. 



The killing of birds is the most serious item in the account 

 against cats, except possibly their agency in the dissemination 

 of disease. All birds smaller than geese, including domestic fowls 

 and excepting birds of prey, are in danger of being attacked and 

 killed by cats, which habitually kill birds up to the size of a 

 pigeon. The birds destroyed by farm cats and house cats are 

 mainly of the species that are most common and useful about 

 gardens, orchards and fields, while vagabond cats and woods cats 

 destroy the most valuable of the woodland birds and game birds. 

 The list includes all that nest and live upon or near the ground, 

 all that feed there, and most of those that nest and feed in trees, 

 as they have to come to the ground to drink and bathe. The 

 following list of 107 species of birds killed by cats is compiled 

 from the papers of correspondents, and while it does not include 

 all the species attacked in Massachusetts, it includes most of the 

 genera: — 



> Kirkland, A. H.: The Garden Toad, Massachusetts State Board'of Agriculture, Nature Leaflet 

 No. 28, fourth edition, December, 1913. 



