342 



Canadian Forcsir]) Journal, September, 1919 



even licking the top of the early morning milk 

 bottle . However closely a house is quaran- 

 tined there is one member of the family that 

 comes and goes at will, and that is the cat. How- 

 ever, pussy is too old a companion, I almost said 

 friend, of man to be lightly dismissed. The cat 

 purring on the hearth rug is almost an essential 

 to a real home, and the pleasure she gives the 

 little ones is too real and human to be disre- 

 garded. As a mouser or ratter the cat is not 

 efficient. No badly infested locality was ever 

 cleared of such vermin by cats. When San 

 Francisco inaugurated its crusade against rats 

 the cat was found useless and not until syste- 

 matic trapping and rat-stopping was inaugur- 

 ated was headway made against them. Any 

 one should have a family cat, if they wish, but 

 if they do not want them enough to pay a 

 nominal registration fee their desire is not 

 enough to balance the very real menace they 

 constitute. Such a registration fee would pre- 

 vent none who really desired from having their 

 pets, but would control the host of half-starved 

 felines that now infest our alleys and vacant 

 lots. 



Early Morning Perils. 



Various methods have been suggested to pre- 

 vent cats from catching birds, such as putting 

 a bell on them or even the use of a tether. 

 Neither of these or many other schemes so far 

 proposed, have worked out in practice. The 

 most practical plan is to keep the cat in at 

 night or rather in the early morning, only let- 

 ting her out after the dew is gone. Most cats 

 kill practically 90 per cent of their birds in the 

 early morning hours when morning hunger re- 

 duces caution and when chilled by the morning 

 air, and wet with the dew from foliage, birds 

 are slower in motion and less on guard. If the 

 cat is kept in until the birds have resumed their 

 usual daily attitude of watchfulness it will do 

 but a small amount of harm. 



Of course the small boy with the sling shot, 

 air gun, or small rifle, have obviously to be 

 guarded against, but their case is comparatively 

 easy. Other enemies of common garden birds 

 ^re the Blue Jay, Red Squirrel and Bronzed 

 Crackle. These are all confirmed nest robbers 

 and are not adverse to taking adults upon oc- 

 casion. The saucy Red Squirrel is particularly 

 pernicious and though we cannot help admiring 

 his spritely ways and intelligence, he should not 

 be allowed to increase unduly. An occasional 

 squirrel adds an interesting though peppery per- 

 sonality to the landscape, but too many of them 

 mean no birds. A choice must be made be- 



tween the two, we cannot have both in abund- 

 ance. 



Fighting the Sparrow. 



The Blue Jay is not likely to disturb the gar- 

 den community as it usually keeps a little far- 

 ther away from the immediate vicinity of man 

 and his works, but the Crackle is especially 

 fond of the ornamental evergreens and con- 

 stantly invades the garden. No one can observe 

 the wild protests its presence arouses in all the 

 garden inhabitants in nesting season without 

 realizing that it is undesirable there. Besides 

 it is gratingly noisy and a very dirty nest- 

 builder, filling the trees or the cornices of the 

 house with even more bulky masses of rubbish 

 than the English Sparrow. 



Under the head of protection this little un- 

 desirable importation should also be mentioned. 

 Originally imported to control insect pests, it 

 turned out more of a seed than an insect eater, 

 and whilst driving away our native insect de- 

 stroyers failed to more than partially fill their 

 place, leaving us worse off than before. It 

 drives away more valuable species in three 

 ways. First by being early on the ground in 

 the spring and pre-empting desirable nesting 

 sites, second by competing with them, during 

 nesting season in the common food supply 

 necessary for all nestlings, and third by their 

 aggressive and quarrelsome nature making an 

 eternal hubbub and inducing more peaceably 

 inclined neighbors to seek quiet life elsewhere. 

 For these reasons English Sparrows should be 

 kept under control and especially out of the 

 nesting boxes until more desirable tenants have 

 established themselves. After this less atten- 

 tion may be paid to them. 



Winter Supplies of Food. 



The question of attracting birds by food is 

 mostly a winter problem. During the summer 

 food is plenty as a rule and does not have to 

 be supplied. A few berry-bearing shrubs will 

 attract many species, and also serve to protect 

 early fruit from their attack. Wild Cherries, 

 Bush Honeysuckle and Mountain Ash or Rowan 

 trees will attract numbers of Robins, Cedar 

 Birds and others. A few heads of lettuce al- 

 lowed to run to seed or fruiting annual Lark- 

 spur are attractions to Coldfinches, whilst a row 

 of seeding Sunflowers is a never failing lure 

 to many species in summer and autumn. It is 

 in the winter, however, when birds and food 

 are scarcest that the greatest results come from 

 feeding. Crain, seeds, suet and nuts are great 

 attractions, and many methods have been 



