Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 123, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1915 — The Bird Or the Cat? [ARTICLE]

The Bird Or the Cat?

"The Bird or the Cat?" has become a scratching subject which is making the feathers fly in many a heretofore peaceful neighborhood. Bird lovers who have attempted to establish sanctuaries for their feathered friends have been compelled to revise their visiting lists according to where her royal highness, Tabbyklns, holds sway. The bird man who has found to his sorrow that any bird and cat combination means cat-astrophe, even while he is taking the mangled body of the little-feathered tenant, that he has worked for months to attract, from the clutches of the inno-cent-looking, fluffy, four-footed murderer, will be assailed by the cat-owner, who indignantly declares that while ether low-bred creatures may catch birds, Bhe knows her own blue-blooded darling Fluffykins is too well bred and too well fed to do such a deed! Naturalists statistically rank the fells domestlcus as third in the bird-destroying agents, holding every, roaming cat responsible for the. lives of at least fifty birds a year. A game warden who reports 200 quail killed by a mother cat in less than a year on the game preserve advocates the wholesale extermination of cats under the supervision of a game warden. The value of the cat to catch mice or rats is disputed by a bird enthusiast, who maintains that this Nero of the animal world will hush forever the Joyous song of any little feathered chorister simply for his own amusement when pot in need of food. When he dines he goes after a cold bird in preference to any other dellckcy, and will catch mice or rats only as a last resort to keep from starving. The most serious arraignment against both the. domestic and stray eat is made by the boards of health, who have found these animals to be carriers of scarlet fever, diphtheria and other diseases most fatal to their human associates. A successful business man says that if a cat kills a little chicken in the yard of the average farmer, the cat is made away with. If the fourfooted hunter comes home with a quail, he is petted; yet the quail is of greater economic value to the farmer than is either the cat or the chicken. He thinks, for humane reasons, the wild or stray cat left on abandoned farms should be put out of the way. A cat-a-comb, where feline prowlers may be laW permanently tojrest, is considered a necessaiy adjunct to every bird sanctuary by a bird conservationist, who has tried, without success, various methods to prevent cats from killing helpless song and insectivorous birds so valuable to man. Another long sufferer from cat depredations considers a near-by deeper bath, in which to immerse and leave the savage., depredators, is the only way in which a bird bath may be maintained. Some friends of the bfrds think to license the cat and hold the owner responsible for his pet’s destructiveuess will solve not only the vexing cat, but also the kitten, question. They conclude that If a person pays tot a license he will not be so

apt to desert his cat, leaving it dependent upon hunting for a living. Optimists who still believe that cat nature may be educated or restrained, suggest that bells and bright ribbon be placed on pussy so that a warning will precede her fatal spring. Others advocate that the poles or trees on which bird houses are placedj should be sheathed In tin or wrapped in barb wire -to prevent the cat from climbing up and destroying the half-grown nestlings before they can fly to safety. A thorny rose bush Is advised by another humane person; but the everpresent cynic thinks it much better to plant the cat at the roots of the rose bush, where be Is sure In time to evolve into harmless fertilizer.