140 BIRD FRIENDS 



Mr. E. H. Forbush estimates that a mature cat 

 in good hunting-grounds kills, on the average, fifty 

 birds a year. He saw a cat kill all the young in six 

 nests and two parent birds in a day. He also re- 

 ports two instances where more than ten birds were 

 killed by a cat in one day, and another where seven 

 were killed. 



In "Bird-Lore " for March-April, 1915, and in a 

 bulletin on the " Domestic Cat," Mr. Forbush gives 

 some interesting results of his investigations regard- 

 ing the cat. A series of questions was sent out to a 

 number of people in Massachusetts, and answers 

 received from more than four hundred. These 

 showed that one hundred and seven species of birds 

 killed by cats had been identified by the writers. 

 Following is a partial list of the birds reported: 



Name of bird killed Number of ob- 

 servers reporting 



Robin 272 



Bluebird 75 



English sparrow 72 



Chipping sparrow 54 



Catbird 52 



Ruffed grouse 46 



Song sparrow 46 



Bob-white 44 



Barn swallow 42 



Junco 34 



Blue jay 25 



Chickadee 24 



Flicker 24 



Yellow warbler 20 



House wren 16 



Meadowlark 14 



Baltimore oriole 13 



Hummingbird 10 



