136 BIRD FRIENDS 



easily climb trees and reach the nests there, so 

 that there are few places where birds build their 

 nests that are not accessible to the cat. And even 

 after the young leave the nest, many are caught 

 when learning to fly. Cats destroy also a great 

 many adult birds. When the parent birds are de- 

 fending their young against the attacks of the cat, 

 they often come within reach of the cat's paws; and 

 even when birds are feeding on the ground, they 

 may be pounced upon by cats that are lurking near, 

 hidden in some shrub or tuft of grass. And again, 

 when birds are bathing, they are not able to fly and 

 so may be easily caught. 



It seems to be a nearly universal instinct among 

 cats to delight in catching birds. Even when cats 

 are not hungry, they catch more birds than they 

 can eat, torturing them in the most sickening fash- 

 ion. Mr. Neil W. Ladd, of Greenwich, Connecti- 

 cut, reports that his household Angora cat, though 

 loaded with bells, brought to their veranda thirty- 

 two birds during one nesting-season and twenty- 

 eight birds during the next season, none of which 

 it ate. 



The cat at best is only partially domesticated, and, 

 when deserted, as is so often the case by thought- 

 less people, it runs wild and lives almost entirely 

 on birds during the season when they can be ob- 

 tained. There are many thousands of these stray, 

 vagrant cats thus devastating our bird life, aided 



