4
Spring and early summer.
Concord, Mass 
1913.
March 15
to 
July 3
(no 4)

Cats & their effects on Squirrels, Rats & birds

while Rats seemed to have totally deserted our farm building, not one having
been seen there since last autumn. If the cats may be credited with killing or
driving away the Chipmunks & Rats they have thereby rendered us no slight
service - possibly offset by the killing of a few birds. I suspect they may have
got the pair of Towhees, which returned as usual to the Berry Pasture
but shortly thereafter disappeared, and they may also have slain a
cat-bird whose feathers (including some from the wing), I found strewn
on the ground near the forsythia thicket in front of the house but
after this happened I frequently saw both male and female Catbird together in this
thicket and the pair breeding behind the house went through the season
without mishap. Nor did any of the Song Sparrows disappear. Strange
to say the pair that frequented our flower garden reared a full brood of
young, early in the season, in a nest built among thin grass within
two yards of the hot bed & equally near a foot path constantly
traversed by the cats. During the nine years that James lived in
the Bungalow his snarling little fox terrier, "Teddy", kept the