144 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



about ill the following order, as regards their importance : 

 cats, English sparrows, gunners and boys, crows, jays, 

 hawks, squirrels, snakes, skunks, foxes, weasels and other 

 small mammals. Owls, shrikes, and some other birds may 

 also be named as of varying importance according to cir- 

 cumstances. Dogs eat eggs and kill some nestlings. In 

 this classification of birds' enemies I refer mainlj' to con- 

 ditions prevailing in eastern Massachusetts, which is a 

 thickly settled region ; in a less thickly settled or more 

 open country, a change in the relative positions of birds' 

 enemies might more nearly approximate the facts. 



Properl}^ speaking, man is the greatest enemy of the 

 birds. Cats, dogs and English sparrows have been both 

 introduced and fostered by him. Birds are killed by him 

 for ornamental purposes and for, sport, instead of being 

 given that consideration and protection which is their due, 

 and Avhick man can readily afford them. Cats are named 

 first as bird enemies, because they are exceedingly num- 

 erous in the vicinity of cities, towns and villages, and 

 because each, in good hunting grounds, will probabl}' de- 

 stroy about fifty birds each season. I have known a single 

 cat to kill all the nestlings in six nests in one day, which, 

 with two of the old birds struck down while trying to 

 defend their young, made twenty-four birds in all. 



No doubt this is exceptional ; but few nests are secure 

 from these cruel marauders, except those which are inac- 

 cessible, like many of the nests of the Baltimore oriole. 

 Most farmers keep too manj- cats. The countr}" is infested 

 wdth vaOTant cats. Hounds often "tree" them in the 

 woods far from any house, and their tracks may be seen in 

 every newly fallen snow. Cats are turned out by people 

 who wish to get rid of them. Many are abandoned by city 

 people when going back to town from their summer homes. 

 Some may take to the woods from choice. 'All this is bad 

 for the birds. INIany such cats inhabit the woods and 

 thickets about Wareham, living on birds, mice, squirrels 

 and insects ; haunting back yards, poultry coops and barns ; 

 stealing any food that may be left in exposed situations ; 

 making the raising of chickens a precarious business ; and 



