who not only violate the game laws, but also set forest fires, and 

 commit other depredations simply from a spirit of maliciousness. 

 There is no excuse to be offered by this class of violator. A heavy 

 fine, a term of imprisonment, or both, is the only sort of punish- 

 ment that produces any effect on this sort, moral suasion is too 

 weak. 



There are a number of predatory birds and animals that should 

 be killed on sight, or by methods of trapping. 



At the head of the list stands the house cat. More birds, both 

 useful and game birds are destroyed each year by this pest, than 

 by any other of their winged or four-footed enemies. Hundreds 

 of semi-wild house cats roam the woods and fields, from the 

 borders of Long Island Sound to the Canadian boundaries of our 

 northern New England States. Trappers engaged in the pursuit 

 of fur-bearing animals catch many house cats, in the woods far 

 removed from human habitations. These cats subsist upon the 

 birds and smaller quadrupeds, and it is a wonder that a single 

 ruffed grouse, quail, woodcock, or hare is left in our covers. In 

 the suburban districts cats destroy large numbers of useful birds, 

 their eggs and young, both by day and night, for the cat is largely 

 nocturnal in its habits, and carries on its work of destruction when 

 its movements are cloaked by darkness. 



Many of the cats now roaming the woods are the victims or 

 their descendants, of the negligence of persons from the city, who 

 in their exodus to the country for the summer, brought along 

 their household pet that it might be cared for by themselves, rather 

 than leave it in charge of a neighbor during their absence. 



This is no doubt humane and highly commendable, but fre- 

 quently in the hurry of departure for the city at the end of the 

 season, the cat at the last moment cannot be found. The train is 

 about due, and time must not be consumed in a hunt for the 

 missing animal. Consequently the cat is left without shelter or 

 food, and soon becomes a menace to the life of woods and fields. 



Unless drastic measures are speedily taken to reduce the 

 numbers of house cats found at large throughout our country, the 

 establishing of protected areas for useful wild creatures will fail of 

 their purpose. The writer knows of one specific instance of the 



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