Parasites, Diseases and Enemies. 287 



noted thief and confidence-man of New York, who 

 said: "A sucker is born every minute." 



Domestic Cats love fish, not in a platonic sense, but 

 as epicures; and as much as they dislike to be wet, I 

 have known a cat to plunge into a stream for fish. We 

 all know that the house cat will wet a paw in the glass 

 globe for a goldfish as readily as she will go for the 

 canary bird when no one is watching, but few know 

 that tabby will dive for fish. While fishing for trout 

 between the mill ponds at Cold frring Harbor, Long 

 Island, and leisurely casting in a pool, a splash drew 

 attention to a large cat just emerging from the water 

 with a handsome trout. She was wet all over, and must 

 have struck her game where the water covered her back. 

 I had neither gun nor pistol, and pussy lived to report. 

 When I have a gun I make it a point to kill every cat 

 that I find in the woods. My love of robins and other 

 birds has brought me to hate this domestic tiger, which 

 kills them. A maiden lady in the village usually had 

 from twenty to thirty cats, and although she fed them 

 well there was no brook trout on their menu. Near her 

 father's stables there was a private trout stream, and 

 the owner gave me the privilege of taking eggs for the 

 State. My men reported that every morning there were 

 remains of trout on the bank, where cats had eaten them. 

 I rigged a dozen steel traps in places where cat tracks 

 hinted that they would do the most good, and said 

 nothing to my men, for they had relatives near. Know- 

 ing the racket a cat in a trap would make, I was there 

 before daylight in order that there should be no dis- 

 turbance of my neighbor's sleep. Three cats were my 

 only reward, and as that didn't pay the scheme was 

 dropped. 



The Raccoon. — This very scientific fisher has been 



