76 



It is a well-known fact that since the settlement of the United 

 States, insect pests and the injury done by them have increased 

 constantly. It is well known also that birds destroy enormous 

 numbers of insects, and that many species of birds have been 

 reduced greatly in numbers, while some have been exterminated. 

 Both the destruction of birds and the increase of insect pests 

 have been greatest within the last century. This is more than a 

 mere coincidence. Many smaller useful species probably in- 

 creased when the forests were cleared from the Atlantic coastal 

 plain, farms established and fruit trees planted, but their increase 

 has not kept pace with the multiplication of insect pests, on 

 which they feed, and the domestic cat has been one of the chief 

 factors in keeping down their numbers.^ As the population 

 increases, cats increase. Birds are not nearly so plentiful in 

 Massachusetts to-day as they are in some western States, and 

 their numbers compare very unfavorably with those in older 

 countries, like England and Germany, where stray cats are kept 

 more closely in check. 



Cats and Insects increase. 



Several instances have been reported of local increase of insect 

 pests as a direct result of the destruction of birds by cats. Mr. 

 T. Bennett of Chicago writes that birds were abundant and his 

 garden produced well, but new neighbors came in with cats, 

 six of which now visit the garden regularly. Last summer, he 

 says, half the birds were killed. This year hardly one is left, and 

 many spring migrants have disappeared. He never knew before 

 that there could be so many destructive insects in a square foot. 

 "Bugs and worms" had to be fought on everything. Flowers 

 and vegetables were poor and nearly a failure.^ 



Injury by Insect Pests. 



Insect pests introduced from foreign ceuritries added to native 

 pests have become so destructive that, according to our best 

 sources of information, the loss to agriculture and forestry from 

 insect ravages in the United States exceeds a billion dollars 



• The Bureau of Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture has taken a 

 preliminary bird census in the northeastern States, including those north of North Carolina and east 

 of ICansos, and finds that farm land average* but one pair of birds to the acre. Professor Cooke, in 

 reporting on this census, opines that the present bird population is "much less than it ought to be 

 and much less than it would be if birds wore given proper protection and encouragement." and he 

 cites farms where the birds average 3 pairs to the acre, one ha\-ing 4 pairs to the acre, and one section 

 of 23 acres, thickly populated, where the birds average nearly 7 pairs to the acre. Where the 

 birds were most carefully protected there were 13 pairs of birds nesting on half an acre. It is note- 

 worthy that the numbers of domestic cats on this area are "below the average." Cooke, Wells W.: 

 Bull. 187, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1915, pp. 6-9. 



» Bird-Lore. Vol. 12, March-April. 1910. pp. 79. 80. 



