BIED-ALTBUISM 65 



BLACKBIRDS v. CATS 



II 



Our garden was yesterday (July 26) the scene during 

 over two hours of an heroic attempt by a couple of black- 

 birds to save their young one from cats. For reckless 

 intrepidity and sustained energy I venture to think that 

 their efforts may be worth recording. Our cat ten 

 months old and a friend from next door five months 

 old went into the garden to play, when they were im- 

 mediately the object of a tremendous demonstration by 

 the two blackbirds. The parents kept up a continuous 

 volume of vindictive objurgations the notes were of 

 aggresive rage, not of alarm and repeatedly charged no 

 other word describes their assaults within a few inches 

 of the cats, which remained crouching and ready to spring. 

 (It turned out that the young blackbird was among some 

 plants, though the cats, as well as ourselves, were innocent 

 of its hiding-place.) It almost seemed as if the old birds 

 were determined to sacrifice their lives in the hope of 

 saving their offspring. After about an hour the cats came 

 into the house, but they were soon attracted to the garden 

 again by the blackbirds, who came up to the door and con- 

 tinued their tirade, a deliberate challenge if ever there 

 was one. This time the younger cat climbed an apple- 

 tree, where both birds immediately attacked him from 

 different angles, frequently sitting within a few inches 

 of him and exhausting every device to drive or lure him 

 away. Once the cock bird went close enough for the cat 

 to strike him and knock some feathers out. Eventually 

 the cat came down the tree and stumbled on the hiding- 

 place of the young bird, which, of course, he caught. I 

 rescued the bird without delay, and apparently without 

 injury. The cats were then shut up and the young bird 

 placed on the lawn, where he hopped about. His father 



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