150 
to keep it, will be willing to pay the cat 
tax; if not, the law should compel them 
so to do. The progeny of the dog is re- 
stricted, why not that of the cat? In cer- 
tain oriental lands where this is not the 
case, pariah dogs are a nuisance; so are 
pariah cats, and so would be any other 
animal not rationally controlled by man. 
But the fact that cats destroy birds makes 
their question a burning one, and a 
worthy field of labor for all Audubon 
workers, along both lines, educational 
and legal, “with malice toward none, with 
charity toward all.’—Emiry G. Hunt, 
M.D., Pasadena, Cal. 
The Destructiveness of Cats 
In 1888, we built a new home and made 
a secluded garden especially for the birds. 
planting trees, shrubs, vines and plants in 
profusion. The high back fences, topped 
with wire netting two and one-half feet 
wide, to keep out cats, are covered with 
Virginia creeper. Certain corners and 
borders are allowed to grow wild. We 
have, each spring, a great variety of mi- 
grants. They come and find food, water 
and shelter in the garden,—they find a 
_ hayen of rest. But at night the neighboring 
cats, also loving seclusion, make the garden 
their rendezvous. Certainly some birds 
have raised their broods, while many 
choice ones have tried to nest, but have 
been driven away, or killed, by English 
Sparrows and cats. While the garden has 
been a source of pleasure in many ways, 
it has also proved a perpetual disappoint- 
ment because of English Sparrows and 
cats. It is distressing to find, every year, 
under vines and bushes, bunches of feath- 
ers and, too, little feet of one’s favorite 
birds—often choice and uncommon ones. 
Here is a partial list, only, of casualties 
taken from an old diary, and is reliable: 
1898—June 5.—A Song Sparrow be- 
gan to build in a honeysuckle vine on the 
south side of the house. 
July 5.—Five fine young Song Spar- 
rows left the nest this morning, at eight 
o’clock—safely. 
July 6.—At four o’clock this morning 
Bird - Lore 
a neighbor’s cat caught one of the birds 
in the (my) garden. It was pitiful to hear 
the cries of the little parents and to see the 
young try to escape. 
July 7.—Of the five, only two of the 
young Song Sparrows are left. The results 
of time and patient labor of these sweet, 
useful, little birds for a month, destroyed 
in a few hours by cats! 
rgor1.—July 30.—A Wren’s nest with 
a full complement of eggs destroyed by a 
cat. 
August 14.—A young Robin just 
barely escaped a springing cat. I saved it. 
1902.—In late April, a Song Sparrow 
built a nest in some brush placed in a high | 
crotch of an elm. She brooded five eggs 
for almost two weeks. A cat climbed up 
one night, and destroyed the nest and ate 
the eggs. The same week, a Wilson’s 
Thrush, or Veery, was taken by a cat in 
one of my trees. 
July 1z.—An orphaned Robin raised 
by me, when liberated today, was caught 
by a cat and one wing broken—per- 
manently disabled. 
July 30.—A cat caught a Wren on the 
front porch and ate him. 
During May and June, many choice 
birds were victims to cats. 
1905.—April 13.—A beautiful male 
Oven bird, in song, eaten by a cat at night. 
It roosted in a low, dense syringa bush. 
Bluebirds building. 
April 25.—Bluebird brooding eggs. 
May 20.—Female Bluebird acciden- 
tally shot in my garden by neighbor’s boy, 
who mistook her for an English Sparrow. 
He shot from his own garden into mine 
without my knowledge. Male bird faithful 
in feeding and caring for the young 
birds. I helped him by throwing out meat 
and meal worms, which he fed to the 
babies. 
May 25.—Five young Bluebirds left 
their nest-box, safely today. 
June 5.—At five o’clock this morning 
the father Bluebird’s cries took me into 
the garden to find a cat with two of the 
young in her claws—a male and a female— 
one dead, the other dying. The birds 
were at their feeding-place, when caught. 
