The Policemen of the Air 



93 







Frc)m the Biological Survey 



TEXAS WII,D CAT 

 An active foe of noxious rodents 



to exterminate them, or even to seriously 

 reduce their numbers, and as if tlie meas- 

 ure of their iniquity were not filled by the 

 wholesale destruction of merchandise, 

 household goods and foodstuffs, they are 

 now known to serve as carriers and dis- 

 seminators of that dread disease, the 

 plague; so that measures to exterminate 

 them, wherever that is possible, are 

 doubly important. 



When is added to the total damage 

 done by rats the results of depredations 

 b\- meadow and house mice, bv prairie 

 dogs, rabbits, gophers, ground squirrels, 

 and other small gnawing animals, the re- 

 sulting total, could it be ascertained, 

 would stagger belief. Unfortunately ac- 

 curate statistics of such damages are for 

 the most part wanting, but a single item 

 is suggestive. One of the small ground 



