OUR ALLIES 159 



roll the fluffy things over, very gently, then he would 

 come back to me purring satisfaction. He would 

 never taste his saucer of milk until his mate was on 

 hand for a full share. 



But what is one to do about it? I think the cat 

 was never known that could be entirely cured of de- 

 stroying birds ? It goes too far back in their hered- 

 ity clear back to the beginning of the cat stock. 

 I have already told how I house my cats during the 

 whole season, giving them a four-room palace, but 

 no freedom to range while the nestlings are unfledged. 

 I advise you to shut up your cats, or stop keeping 

 them. 



Birds we must have, not only to make the coun- 

 try countrified, not only for the company and the 

 song, but because our crops are dependent so largely 

 upon their help. The singers not only sing, but they 

 eat vast quantities of insects and the seeds of noxious 

 weeds are devoured by the ton. So much of this 

 help do they extend that we can afford to feed them 

 as regularly and systematically as we do the cow 

 and horse. It is those who do nothing of this sort 

 who suffer most from their depredations. 



I knew a man who advocated killing robins to 

 save the cherries. I early learned a better way: 

 plant more; plant enough for all of us. When it 

 comes to ripe cherries I cover about two-thirds of 

 my trees with mosquito nettings and say to the cat- 

 birds and thrushes, " You own the rest." I do not 

 give them these; I only recognize the fact that they 



