408 USEFUL BIRDS. 
during the breeding season of the birds, unless it has been 
taught not to kill them. Cats can be confined during the 
day in outdoor cages, as readily as rabbits, and given the 
run of the house at night. Massachusetts law does not 
give the cat protection, and all cats found running at large 
may be treated as wild animals. All wild or “woods” cats 
should be shot at sight. Marauding cats may be trapped 
by box traps baited with catnip, and held for the owner, or 
killed if no owner appears. 
Farmers know well how to deal with foxes, weasels, minks, 
skunks, and raccoons. They regard squirrels as pests; but 
it is extremely probable that it is only the individual squir- 
rel that robs birds’ nests. Mr. A. C. Dike writes me that 
one season when he was carefully watching the birds about 
his place he saw the eggs and young in eight birds’ nests 
destroyed by the red squirrel; but that in each case the 
same squirrel was the culprit, for he was able to identify it, 
because it had lost a part of its tail in escaping from the 
cat. Syuirrels often nest in hollow trees in which birds have 
already established themselves, thus driving out the birds. 
It is quite possible that in some localities many of the squir- 
rels may have acquired the habit of killing birds. When this 
is evident the squirrels should be killed. Unfortunately, the 
law protects gray squirrels at the only time when this habit 
can be observed. Where birds show no alarm when squir- 
rels approach their nests, the presumption is that the squir- 
rels are innocent. The beauty and grace exhibited in the 
forms and motions of squirrels have made them favorites 
with many people, who will not wish to kill them. Others 
will wish to avoid killing Crows, Jays, Hawks, or even cats. 
But all should regard it a duty to protect the nests of birds 
from these marauders. Some experiments in this direction 
have been made. It isa simple matter, as has been described, 
to protect such birds as will build in nesting boxes ; but those 
that nest on the ground are peculiarly liable to the attacks 
of their enemies, and other means of protecting them may 
possibly be devised. 
Years ago I secured a translation of a paper published in 
* France by Xavier Raspail, entitled “The Protection of Use- 
