52 OUR NATIVE BIRDS 
even one sparrow alight, and always driving them from 
the trees when I could. For two years this has worked 
well, but what any season may bring forth, I cannot 
tell. I find, too, that suet put on the under side of 
boughs which incline about forty-five degrees, provid- 
ing the bough be a good-sized one, is safe from this 
bird, while any other can easily get it. 
“ One of my friends shot two last spring, and the flock 
left till this winter. Then she shot a third, and they 
have not returned. 
“Pans of water for bathing and drinking are always 
near the house, and I cannot advocate too strongly 
their use to the bird lover. I use dripping-pans painted 
inside and outside to protect them from rust. They 
are about the right depth. To these I owe a glimpse 
of many a rare warbler, and I think many a bird comes 
to them first and then follows the other feeding birds. 
I might fill a small book with the beautiful and inter- 
esting sights common there. The birds bathe even 
after the water freezes at night. In the fall I have 
counted over fifty robins within three hours, enjoying 
to the full this chance for a bath, and that as I would 
come and go by the windows. There is one more dis- 
cordant note to be struck —the cat, and worst of all, 
the neighbor’s cat. The tramp cat might be and should 
be eliminated. I think if we could have a license law 
for cats as well as for dogs, this nuisance could be much 
abated, but the neighbor’s cat must be respected even 
if he does commit depredations. One friend prevailed 
on his neighbors to bell their cats, and go the birds had 
