CHAPTER VI 
PROTECTING THE BIRDS FROM THEIR NATURAL 
ENEMIES 
Cats. — The foremost place among all song bird 
destroyers must, as we have already said, be assigned 
to the house cat, this half-wild beast of the woods that 
climbs roofs as well as trees and never learns to dis- 
tinguish between birds and mice. 
The most injurious cat in country districts is the 
feralized cat, one that has returned to a wild life in the 
woods. This creature lives on mice, gophers, birds, 
and eggs. Young birds and eggs are, however, much 
easier to catch than gophers and mice, and therefore 
he lives largely on birds and eggs during the summer 
months. Ground birds naturally suffer most by their 
destructiveness. These cats should be shot, trapped, 
or poisoned by every lover of birds and by every 
sportsman. Some of them come to farmhouses in 
very severe weather. Such occasions afford a good 
opportunity to the farmer boy for the use of his gun. 
I have heard of a pair of such feralized cats living in a 
skunk hole during the severe winter of 1898-99. 
In town, city, and country, we have the tramp cat, 
which goes from farm to farm, or from house to house, 
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