93 



bell from ringing until the final spring. Belled cats catch birds, 

 rats and mice and all forms of wild life; although the bell may 

 save a few birds in some cases, it never saves helpless young. 

 Mr. Niel Morrow Ladd of Greenwich, Conn., records the fact 

 that a sleek, fat Angora cat, although burdened with 6 bells, 

 brought in during one nesting season 32 birds and in the next 28, 

 none of which it ate.^ This cat is shown on Plate VI. in the act 

 of killing a young catbird. 



. Cat Guards. 



Most of the devices for protecting the nests of birds are useful 

 against the cat only when nests are on isolated trees or in boxes 

 on poles. Such devices will not protect nests on the ground in 

 shrubbery or in woods. In such cases a tract 

 of land may be surrounded with a very high, 

 thick, thorny, and impenetrable hedge or a 

 catproof fence. Nesting boxes on the per- 

 pendicular walls of buildings are inaccessible to 

 cats, and those on tall slim poles are not often 

 troubled by them. Nest boxes hung by wires 

 have been recommended. 



The plan proposed by Raspail, by which 

 the nests both on the ground and in trees 

 are surrounded and covered 

 by a wire netting, to keep 

 the cat away (see Plate XVI), 

 allow'ing the bird to slip in 

 through the meshes of the 

 top, has been successfully 

 used both here and abroad, 

 but is expensive and is use- 

 less unless the nest is pro- 

 tected before the cat finds it. 

 It is easier and less expen- 

 sive to cage the cat rather 

 than the nest, but the wire netting may protect the nest from 

 wandering cats. 



It is well known that cats are very sensitive, and that they are 

 fond of catnip and other aromatic plants; also they detest cer- 

 tain odorous plants and substances. Housewives formerly tied 

 slips of rue under the wings of chicks to protect them from cats. 

 The odor of orange peel is said to disgust cats. In England 

 cats once were singed to keep them at home. Hence the old 



To puzzle cats. 



Difficult for pussy. 



* Ladd, Niel Morrow: How to attract Wild Birds about the Home, 1915, p. 35. 



