394 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [ 12:9— Dec, 1916 



useful birds, written in 1894, says that though cats are outside 

 the law, and therefore may be killed with impunity, their numbers 

 are renewed from the villages incessantly to such an extent that, 

 not a night passes without traces of these ' abominable marauders.' 

 Of 67 bird's nests observed from April to August, only 26 pros- 

 pered; at least 15 certainly were destroyed by cats, and others 

 may have been. Baron Hans von Berlepsch, the first German 

 authority on the protection of birds, after forty years' experience 

 says that where birds are to be protected the domestic cat must 

 not be allowed at large. 



Number of Birds Killed by Cats. — ''Most people x do not realize 

 how destructive cats are to bird life because their attention has 

 never been called to the facts and because most feline depredations 

 occur at night. In my investigations much evidence has been 

 secured which is very convincing. In the year 1903, at the 

 instance of the secretary of the state Board of Agriculture, an 

 inquiry was undertaken regarding the decrease of birds in Massa- 

 chusetts. As a part of this investigation a questionnaire was 

 sent out" to some 400 correspondents, which was filled out and 

 returned by more than 200. In response to a question regarding 

 the effect produced on birds by their natural enemies, 82 corres- 

 pondents reported cats as very destructive to birds. This was 

 a much larger number than those reporting any other natural 

 enemy as destructive. Nearly all who reported on the natural 

 enemies of birds placed the cat first among destructive animals. 

 These reports and opinions attracted my attention and I began 

 to inquire regarding the number of birds killed by cats. The more 

 the matter was investigated the more shocking it became. 



Bird Slaughter by Cats. — "Dr. Anne E. Perkins of Gowanda, 

 N. Y., who has had a long experience with pets, tells of a cat 

 which brought in meadowlarks, an oven-bird, two hummingbirds, 

 and a flicker within a few days. She writes, "I am skeptical 

 when any one says 'my cat never catches birds; it is only the 

 hungry ones abandoned by their owners.' I have seen an active 

 mother cat in one season devour the contents of almost every 

 robin's nest in an orchard, even when tar, chicken wire and other 

 preventatives were placed on the trunks of the trees. The robin 

 builds so conspicuous and accessible a nest, and is so easily agi- 

 tated by the approach of the cat, that it is difficult to save the 

 young." She writes me that for years she has known of innumer- 



