106 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Bird Houses raided by Cats. 

 The experimental work on bird houses at Wareham was 

 interrupted in 1918 by cats. Until this year apparently vaga- 

 bond cats had not learned to climb much to the nesting boxes, 

 which were mounted on rather slim poles or posts, but last 

 June when the young birds had hatched out, and when for a 

 time the boxes were not watched, cats began to climb them. 

 When the poles were examined later, claw marks showed where 

 some of them had been climbed seven or eight times, and the 

 inmates of more than thirty bird houses were probably attacked 

 at night. Some of the parent birds were found dead in the 

 boxes with their heads crushed in, and the remains of others 

 were found where their bodies had been eaten. Eggs were 

 found broken or decayed. As a result of this raid only three or 

 four families of tree swallows and one of bluebirds were reared 

 in 1918, where hundreds of young birds of five species had 

 been raised in previous years. The colony was almost wiped 

 out. Next year each nesting box will be protected by one or 

 more rows of large fish hooks fastened around the pole with 

 the points downward. This seems the only means of keeping 

 cats away that is both effective and inexpensive for a large 

 number of poles. 



A Directory of Collections of Mounted Specimens 

 OR Skins of Birds in Massachusetts available to 

 Students. 

 One of the most important things for the student of birds 

 to know is where he can see prepared specimens of the birds 

 that he wishes to study. A colored plate is a useful method 

 for identifying birds, but it has some drawbacks, and the bird 

 student or would-be ornithologist cannot advance very rapidly 

 without some use of specimens. The number of adequate 

 collections of native bird skins and mounted birds in Massa- 

 chusetts is not very large, but there are small collections in 

 various institutions which may be made use of either by the 

 public or by students. Also there are private collections that 

 may be used under certain conditions. During the past two 

 years efforts have been made to secure information about all 



