be far less injury to the birds than in the spring. Those who prefer not to spray can usually find other methods for protecting their trees against these insects. The cutting of undergrowth and trees and the trimming of trees is often found necessary in suppressing the gypsy moth; but it should not be done in spring and summer, when the birds are nesting, except in cases of extreme necessity. SOME FACTS ABOUT THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF Birds. A great deal has been said and written of late regarding the natural enemies of birds and game. Undoubtedly such enemies form a most potent check on the increase of birds' numbers, and where for any reason birds are decreasing in numbers, it may become necessary to destroy their natural enemies. Foxes, weasels, minks, skunks, squirrels and crows will need close watching at times, lest they become too numerous. The two common species of bird hawk, the cooper's hawk and the sharp-shinned hawk, are everywhere very destructive to birds; but the two natural enemies of our birds that seem to exceed all others in importance are the domestic cat and the so-called English sparrow. Our native birds had enemies enough to keep them well in check before these destructive foreign species were introduced here. Individually, the cat and the sparrow are not so destructive as the bird hawk, but the destructiveness of a species increases as its numbers increase. Possibly every bird hawk eats on the average 2 small birds a day, or 730 birds a year, while only the adult cats in good hunting ground will average 50 birds a year each; but in the State at large there are probably at least 150 cats to every bird hawk, and provided that these 150 cats average only 10 birds apiece in the year, they would destroy 1,500 birds to 730 killed by the hawk. Proof of the destructiveness of cats was secured in my explorations of tern colonies along the Atlantic coast during the past summer. On Penikese Island there was one vagrant cat running wild; here and there young terns could be seen with their heads torn off. I was informed by the superintendent of the hospital on the island that this was the work of the cat. At suitable places along the remoter beaches terns were attempting to breed, but wherever cat tracks were to be found in any numbers on the sands the birds had failed to establish themselves. The only localities where many young birds were found were far from dwellings, where there were but few, if any, cat tracks. The cat is a very important factor in the destruction of the least tern. In 1907 a considerable colony of these birds was established not far from the Monomoy Point Lighthouse; but the birds met with no success in rearing their young, on account of the cats which then roamed the beach. In 1908 the colony evidently had been broken up, as no birds remained, and the beach was pitted with many cat tracks. Some of these cats are kept at the lighthouses and life-saving stations, but more are vagrants that have been turned loose by their former owners to pick up their living. They congregate about the life-saving stations, and find shelter beneath the buildings. The cat is a handsome, strong, active and graceful animal. She is the type of feline ferocity and activity. She does not possesses the noble and self-sacrificing qualities of the dog, but is his superior in nocturnal activity, versatility and courage. Her chief claim upon mankind was stated years ago, in Robert B. Thomas' " Almanack," in substantially these words: "The cat is a good mouse-trap, and it is easy to set." Notwithstanding the number of cats supported by our population, rats and mice are nevertheless among the most destructive of all pests, and are constantly increasing in numbers; therefore in most homes the cat is regarded as a necessity, notwithstanding the fact that she carries diphtheria and other diseases that are peculiarly fatal to children. The increase and distribution of the cat is not regulated or restricted in any way by law in this country. This is a question which our legislators must take up sooner or later. In the mean time, the people can do much to mitigate the cat nuisance. No one living in the country should keep more than one adult cat. It should be well fed, and confined as much as possible from May to September, when young birds are in the nest. All superfluous cats should be quietly chloroformed. No one should ever turn a cat loose to hunt for its subsistence. Among the words of wisdom to be found in the old numbers of the "Old farmer's almanack" we find a means of breaking the house cat of the bird-killing habit. When the cat catches a bird, the dead bird should be tied securely under her neck and kept there as long as it will hold together. The disagreeable consequences of her act disgusts the cat, and she will not touch a bird thereafter. People who have tried this plan assert that it is effectual. It is well-known that some very intelligent and well-bred cats may be prevented from killing birds by punishment, but this will have no effect on others. The English sparrow seems to be increasing in numbers in the country towns, and occupying more ground than formerly. It continues to drive out swallows, bluebirds and other species. The increase of poultry raising in the country is especially favorable to the sparrows, which annually devour thousands of bushels of grain intended for the fowls. Nevertheless, the sparrow, being a bird, has some of the good qualities of birds. Correspondents in the cities gratefully refer to the good these noisy foreigners are doing among the trees and shrubbery. Mr. S. A. Faunce of Boston writes that the sparrows have saved his roses from the "green worm "; also, they destroy the rose slug. Mrs. Ella M. Beals of Marblehead writes that the sparrows get a small worm that eats the new shoots on the cherry trees. Notwithstanding the fact that the diet. of the sparrow is such that it is far less useful than any of the native birds, its great numbers make its useful habits very effectual. But now comes a new danger, by reason of the presence of the sparrow about the poultry yard. Dr. Philip B. Hadley of the Rhode Island Experiment Station writes that in that locality over 80 per cent. of English sparrows have been found to carry the organism of a Coccidium which produces a disease called coccidiosis of fowls. This is the extremely fatal malady which has now made turkey raising almost impossible in New England, and which is more or less fatal to |