80 



of one of these birds, sent me by Mr. Chas. P. Curtis of Boston. 

 The bird was killed by a mowing machine in the field; but the 

 crop contained 48 potato beetles and 250 weed seeds. Mr. 

 James Henry Rice of Summerville, S. C, writes that by protect- 

 ing bobwhites, and encouraging them to breed in and about his 

 potato fields, he has secured practical immunity from the potato 

 beetle. These examples are quite enough to show that birds in 

 sufiicient numbers may become important checks on injurious 

 insects. It is difficult to compute the value of birds to agri- 

 culture, but Mr. Wm. R. Gates, State fish, game and forestry 

 warden of Michigan, has placed the value of insectivorous and 

 seed-eating birds of that State at $10,000,000 per year, and 

 doubts if an equivalent could be secured in human labor for 

 twice that amount.^ 



If we assume that a bird, during its normal lifetime, eats but 

 50,000 insects, each cat that kills 50 birds in a year saves an 

 enormous host of insects, the number varying in each case with 

 the potential length of life of the bird had it not been killed by 

 the cat. A cat that kills only 10 birds annually protects a swarm 

 of insects. It is fortunate that some few of the insects commonly 

 eaten by birds feed on injurious insects, otherwise the destruc- 

 tion of birds by cats would be even more serious. 



Inutility of the Cat. 



No statement of the food of the cat would be complete with- 

 out reference to an analysis of the stomach contents of a few 

 hundred stray or feral cats taken in the open country. I have 

 made no attempt to obtain such a collection for the obvious 

 reason that a price offered for such stomachs might result in the 

 destruction of many pet cats. The known facts, however, are 

 sufficient to warrant the conclusion that the domestic cat, stray- 

 ing in the fields and woods, whether a pet, a vagabond or a wild, 

 free dweller in the open, is a menace to wild life and a detri- 

 ment to the general welfare. Doubtless, in its native wilderness 

 this little feline was an essential part of the faunal life of the 

 continent. It found abundant food, either in the forest, the 

 jungle or in the open veldt, fulfilled its part in holding in check 

 the swarming forms of smaller animal life, and its own carcass 

 furnished food for the larger canines and felines that preyed 

 upon it. When introduced into the New England fields, it 

 became at once a disturbing foreign force, increasing beyond rea- 

 sonable bounds, — a fruitful source of trouble. As most of its 



I Biennial Report, Game, Fiah and Forestry Department of Michigan, for 1013-14, p. 27. 



