60 



THE GAME BREEDER 



sachusetts Commission on Fisheries and 

 Game, has noticed particularly the tracks 

 of cats in his travels. He found numer- 

 ous cat tracks on the islands of Mus- 

 keget, Tuckernuc, Nantucket and Mar- 

 tha's Vineyard. On Nantucket he noted 

 that the tracks extended three or four 

 miles from any habitation. He saw 

 traces of many birds evidently killed by 

 cats, particularly on Muskeget and Mar- 

 tha's Vineyard. He describes a similar 

 condition on Cape Cod, in the townships 

 of Provincetown, Eastham, Orleans and 

 Sandwich, where he has hunted. He 

 says that cats are numerous in a large 

 section between Worcester and the 

 Rhode Island line, and in the country 

 between Ware and Greenfield; also be- 

 . tween Adams and North Adams, and in 

 many parts of New Hampshire. He has 

 observed many tracks on the winter 

 snows; he has seen many cats, some of 

 them with birds, and frequently has no- 

 ticed them on lonely roads at night, by 

 the light of his car lamps. Several hunt- 

 ers have told him of finding litters of 

 kittens far back in the woods. 



The Cat and Bobwhite. 



Mr. Fred A. Olds saw a cat spring 

 into the air and come down with a full- 

 grown cock bobwhite in its claws. Col. 

 Charles E. Johnson asserts that he saw 

 a cat with a bobwhite in its mouth run- 

 ning toward a Negro cabin. When the 

 colonel arrived at the cabin he found a 

 colored woman plucking the bird. She 

 said that the cat brought in birds very 

 often. Many cats are encouraged by 

 their owners to bring in game. T. B. 

 Johnson says, in "The Vermin De- 

 stroyer," that he has known several cats 

 that caught' game and brought it home. 

 These cats were highly esteemed by their 

 owners. 



Mr. F. W. Henderson tells, in the 

 Rockland "Independent," of a cat that 

 brought her kittens an entire brood of 

 bobwhites. Dr. George W. Field relates 

 that a covey of bobwhites which he was 

 watching in . Sharon was discovered by 

 a cat and attacked at night, at intervals 

 of two to seven days, until the number 

 had .become reduced from sixteen to 

 eight. They then left in a body for Can- 



ton, where they were recognized later. 

 Mr. E. Colfax Johnson, ot budbury, 

 says that he has known of entire hocks 

 oi . young bobwhites being destroyed by 

 cats. Mr. John M. Crampton, superin- 

 tendent for the Connecticut State Board 

 of Fisheries and Game, writes that last 

 fall (1914) a farmer requested that a 

 special protector be sent to look after 

 the bobwhites on his land. When the 

 warden arrived he found that the farmer 

 had fifteen cats, some of which had 

 brought in three bobwhites already that 

 morning. Mr. B. S. Blake, of Webster, 

 tells of a cat that took home three bob- 

 whites in one week. Mr. Edward L. 

 Parker tells of a servant who saw a eat 

 break up two bobwhites' nests. Senator 

 Louis Hilsendegen, of Michigan, says in 

 the "Sportsman's Review" that Henry 

 Ford bought 200 pairs of bobwhites at 

 $3 a pair and released them on his farm 

 at Dearborn, Michigan. A stray cat, left 

 by a farmer who had moved away, found 

 them and it was noticed that their num- 

 bers were decreasing rapidly. A watch 

 was set for the cat; it was shot and 

 found to weigh sixteen pounds. Under 

 a rail shelter, where the birds had fed, 

 a mass of feathers and other remains 

 about a foot deep was found. That cat, 

 says the Senator, had killed more than 

 200 bobwhites, which had cost the owner 

 $300. Mr. E. R. Bryant, of the Henry 

 Ford farms, writes me that this story is 

 true except that it may be a little over- 

 drawn in regard to the number of birds 

 killed. He never knew exactly how 

 many were slain by this cat. 



Ruffed Grouse. 



Cats are nearly as destructive to 

 grouse as to bobwhites. I have seen a 

 ruffed grouse that was killed on her nest 

 and partly eaten by a cat, while the eggs 

 were scattered and some were broken 

 but not eaten. Almost invariably in such 

 cases a careful search will reveal a few 

 hairs of the cat on some branch or twig, 

 lost in the struggle. If several steel 

 traps be set, carefully concealed, around 

 the dead bird the cat may be taken. 



Mr. William Brewster tells of a day's 

 hunt by four sportsmen with their dogs, 

 in which they killed only one game bird 



