158 



THB OOLOQIBT 



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cat, and I am not greatly surprised 

 at the ardent defence that many peo- 

 ple make for their pets; they declare 

 that their cat is a wonder! would not 

 touch a bird; at the same time they 

 are often viciferous as to the sins of 

 their neighbors' cats. 



The remedy it seems to me is, 

 education as to the exact status of 

 the cat, then a law compelling a state 

 license for every cat to be followed 

 by the destruction of all unlicensed 

 cats. 



I find that most people whom I 

 meet are willing to pay a small li- 

 cense, say a dollar a year, for a pet 

 cat, in order to get rid of the half 

 wild, half starved cats that abound 

 in all cities and places or resort 

 where they are abandoned by away 

 going transient visitors. 



The farmers are the worst hit of 

 all but strangely enough they are gen- 

 erally the ones who defeat any at- 

 tempt to have cats licensed. When 

 convinced, as they were finally about 

 good roads, they will be the most ac- 

 tive for restrining the cat; it seems 

 as though we must educate everybody 

 up to the idea that it is his neighbor's 

 cat that we think vicious. 



Of course we know that a license 

 will not change the nature of a cat 

 but I know of several families that 

 keep, or rather harbor upwards of 

 twelve cats; they do not pretend, or 

 merely pretend to feed them; certain- 

 ly they would not license more than 

 two or three; with penalties for har- 

 boring unlicensed cats, there would be 

 a thinning out process. 



Educate the people especially the 

 farmers, to the value of birds as 

 against cats and then we can begin 

 to make progress; as it is while we 

 invite birds to stay with us in the 

 peopled places we also invite them to 

 a perilous existence. 



Many people are beginning to see 



the value of birds; educate them to 

 see the peril of cats to nesting birds 

 around our homes. — (Communicated). 



A Rare Runt. 



Paul Herrington of Toronto, Canada, 

 reports a runt egg of the Red-Winged 

 Blackbird measuring .77 x .51 inches, 

 taken May 30, 1915. 



Some Western Birds — Road-Runner. 



Those who have read the late Brad- 

 ford Torrey's interesting book en- 

 titled "Field Days in California" will 

 perhaps recall his story of the East- 

 ern ornithologist who was walking 

 along a Southern California beach 

 with a lady who, while long a resi- 

 dent of the Golden State, was not very 

 familiar with its avifauna. The gentle- 

 man expressed a desire to see the 

 Road-runner (Geococcyx calif ornian- 

 us) on its native heath, whereupon 

 the Native Daughter pointed to a 

 flock of gulls that were following the 

 waves along the sand, and calmly as- 

 sured him that the bird he sought was 

 before his eyes. 



With the exception of our Condor, 

 I know of no other bird that the East- 

 erner paying his first visit to Califor- 

 nia looks forward to meeting with as 

 much anticipation as he does to the 

 Road-runner. In many ways the bird 

 is unique. He is the only Ground- 

 cuckoo found within the limits gov- 

 erned by the A. O. U. Check-list, his 

 nearest relatives being the Anis of 

 the South and the common Black and 

 Yellow-billed Cuckoos of the East. 



No picture of the desert is complete 

 without him. Given a giant cactus, a 

 rattlesnake, a lone cow-puncher and a 

 Road-runner; and your short-story 

 novelist has ample material for an ab- 

 sorbing romance of the plains. 



Like the Penguin of the South At- 

 lantic and the Apteryx of New Zea- 

 land, the Ground-cuckoo possesses in- 



