The Chipping Sparrow 
319 
Beware 
the Catl 
It would be pleasant to say that all four of these young Chipping 
Sparrows grew up and lived happy ever after, but this, alas, would not be 
telling the truth. Our neighbor had a cat, and the eat knew of the nest 
in the clematis-vine, and no doubt would have torn it down some dark 
night had we not arranged some boards and a piece of tin in such a way 
that it could not climb up the vine. But as soon as the young scattered 
about the lawn, and before they were able to fiy more than a few yards 
at a time, the cat was ready for them, and before noon of the day they 
left the nest one of the baby birds had disappeared. 
It was just after luncheon when I heard the angry 
chipping of our friends, the sparrows, and, dashing 
out on the veranda, I saw the cat marching away with a bird-child in its 
mouth. That cat was well fed and well cared for, and had all the good 
food that any reasonable cat could mew for, yet its love for hunting was 
so strong, that, like almost every other cat that you or I have ever seen, 
it would catch birds if it had the chance. 
Chipping Sparrows are very useful birds, for they destroy ‘‘worms” 
(the caterpillars, or larvae, of moths and butterflies) which eat holes in 
the vegetables in the garden, and consume grass-blades and the leaves 
of trees. 
Over large areas of the New England States, the gipsy-moth has be- 
come a great scourge, for its caterpillars attack nearly all the trees in the 
country except pines and cedars. They destroy the 
leaves ; and, as trees really breathe through their 
leaves, the gipsy-moth of course is responsible for 
killing the trees. Some States have tried many experiments in order to 
learn how they may rid themselves of these pests. 
To learn more about the life-history of the gipsy-moth, the men in 
charge of the experiments in Massachusetts not long ago built a large 
inclosure out-of-doors. This was covered and surrounded by a thin 
netting, inside of which a great many gipsy-moths were placed, where 
their various habits could be closely watched. Then a curious thing 
happened : the Chipping Sparrows began to arrive, and would continually 
break through the frail netting to get inside the frame where they could 
catch the moths. The men in charge did not think a moment of killing 
the sparrows. No, indeed! So useful a bird should not be destroyed! 
They did a much wiser thing, for they kept a man on guard to frighten 
the sparrows away when they came too close to the 
netting. The actions of the birds plainly showed that 
they much preferred to eat this noxious insect, in- 
stead of contenting themselves with other kinds of food that might be 
found in the neighborhood. 
These birds are very fond also of beet-worms, currant-worms, and 
caterpillars of many kinds. Edward H. Eorbush, who has spent a great 
deal of time in finding out especially what birds eat, says : “In all, thirty- 
eight per cent, of the food of the Chipping Sparrow consists of animal 
Foe of the 
Gipsy-Moth 
A Good 
Testimony 
