Mammals The Cat 
hunter of mice and rats, which are alsonight-prowlers; 
although these creatures form a natural part of her 
food, yet she gets so many internal parasites from 
them, that sometimes her health is thus greatly 
injured. ‘‘Mice make a cat poor,’’ say the farmer 
people, a true observation because of the many 
worms which have their early stages in mice, and their 
later stages in the intestines of the cat. 
Cats should, when young, be taught to leave birds 
alone. A little attention in training the kitten will 
later save the life of many a bird. As soon as the 
kitten is old enough to begin to notice birds, it should 
be switched every time it even looks at one. A few 
days of this kind of treatment is usually sufficient to 
teach the lesson, for the kitten is no fool. If she 
persists in catching birds, take the bird from her that 
she has just killed, put some red pepper upon it, and 
let her have it again. If this is done once, it will 
usually make her afraid to touch any bird thereafter. 
Leaving cats at summer cottages during the winter 
ought to be considered a criminal offense. The poor 
cats suffer from the unaccustomed rigors of winter, 
and by starvation they are forced to climb trees in 
search of birds. Many thousands of our beneficial 
song birds are thus‘ sacrificed every year because of 
the wicked thoughtlessness of people who desert 
their cats and thus render them wild in their habits. 
An intelligent cat may be taught many things, and 
each of us who loves our puss may have an interesting 
story to tell of the achievements of our especial pet. 
When I was a baby of five months, I was adopted by 
a cat, a handsome black and white creature called 
‘“Jenny.’’ <A cruel woods-cat had come to the barn 
and killed Jenny’s first litter of kittens, and she was a 
lonely and disconsolate little mother, mourning for 
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