A Saint Bartholomew of Birds 231 



of all animals and the most terrible scourge to 

 bird life the vanishing wild life of America. 

 "True sportsmen," "pot hunters," "the negro with 

 the $3 gun" all together do not begin to kill as 

 many birds as dear, innocent Tabby. Some- 

 where around 300,000,000 annually is supposed 

 to be a fair estimate of puss's destruction of game 

 and insectivorous birds. 



It has been well said that the cat fears no law 

 and knows no master; you cannot train his claws 

 not to rend, nor his teeth not to tear. It goes 

 without saying that a creature that has taken pos- 

 session of the home is bound to be protected by the 

 affection of the whole household and much in the 

 way of education will be required to dislodge it. 

 The cat menace to bird life is ten times as great in 

 the South as in the North, for there, the animals 

 breed to starvation lines and the milder climate 

 seems favorable to Tabby's attaining length of 

 days; her nine lives being increased to at least 

 eighteen. 



Sportsmen are only comparatively recently fac- 

 ing the killing off of whole species and the best in- 

 formed among their number, are appalled by facts 

 that no longer can be ignored. They quite gen- 

 erally admit the Massacre of the Passenger 

 Pigeon, but the latest palliation is the statement 

 that it was a good thing for the farmer. The 

 threatened excinction of Ducks comes home to 



