170 



THE GAME BflEEDER 



and dispersal for wild game species ; but 

 they would also keep from' extermination ■ 

 many other things in which the hunter is 

 not interested. 



They would serve the interests of the 

 public at large by preserving to future 

 generations some of the wealth of life 

 with which nature has endowed our coun- 

 try. There are three important reasons 

 why it should be preserved: 



1. Its esthetic value. Many of the 

 wild things, both plants and animals, are 

 interesting and wonderfully beautiful. 



2. Its educational value : many of these 

 things are important for teaching pur- 

 poses ; and the youth has a right to know 

 what the native life of his native land was 



like ; otherwise he will not be able to 

 ■ understand its . early history. 

 ■ 3. Its possibilities of undeveloped eco- 

 nomic values. We are only at the begin- 

 ning of knowledge how to best utilize our 

 natural resources. We should not exter- 

 minate the wild species. We do not know 

 what use the future ^yill have for them. 

 Though they are all products of the evo- 

 lution of the ages, they may be quickly 

 destroyed, as the history of the passing 

 of the wild pigeon shows. Once gone, 

 they are gone forever. The interest that 

 the public has in keeping them is in the 

 long run far more important than the in- 

 terest of the hunter in- shooting or the 

 farmer in raising crops. 



THE GREATEST ENEMY OF THE BIRDS. 



By Edward H. Forbush, 

 State Ornithologist of Massachusetts. 



A mature cat in good hunting grounds 

 kills, on an average, fifty birds a year. 

 Kittens and half -grown cats do not catch 

 many birds, but the old cat that wanders 

 off into the fields and woods is terribly, 

 destructive. Mr. William Brewster tells 

 of an acquaintance in Maine who said 

 that his cat killed about fifty birds a year. 

 When asked why he did not get another 

 cat, he said that it would be of no use, 

 for they were all alike. Mr. A. C. Dyke 

 writes that his family owned a cat which 

 was Well cared for and a particular pet. 

 They watched it through one season and 

 found that it killed fifty-eight birds, in- 

 cluding the young. in five nests. Nearly a 

 hundred correspondents scattered 

 through all the counties of the State 

 report the cat as one of the greatest en- 

 emies of the birds. The reports that 

 have come in of the torturing and killing 

 of birds by cats are absolutely sickening. 

 The number of birds killed by them in 

 this State is appalling. It is quite true, 

 however, that some cats do not kill many 

 birds, and that some intelligent or high- 

 bred cats may be taught not to kill any. 

 Some cat lovers believe that each cat 

 kills on the average not more than ten 



birds a year; but I have learned of two 

 instances where more than that number 

 were killed in a single day, and another 

 where seven were killed. If we assume, 

 however, that the average cat on the 

 farm kills but ten birds a year, and that 

 there are two cats to each farm in Mas- 

 sachusetts, we have, in round numbers, 

 seventy thousand catsi killing seven hun- 

 dred thousand birds annually. 



If we add to the cats kept on farms the 

 enormous number of village and city 

 cats, many of which have good oppor- 

 tunities for catching birds, we shall see 

 the chief reason for the great mortality 

 to birds and their young about our vil- 

 lages and cities. If cats are allowed 

 their liberty at night during the nesting 

 season, they, unnoticed, rob many birds' 

 nests. The cat is more dangerous to 

 birds than any native mammal that roams 

 our woods, for it is nocturnal, a splendid 

 climber, a good stalker, a strong leaper, 

 arid is very quick and active. 



Unfortunately, the cat is only half 

 domesticated and easily goes back to a 

 wild state. If the dog loses its master 

 it will soon find another, but the ma- 

 ture cat is more likely to run wild. Thou- 



