. If
a cat is carefully watched or if we put a bell on its neck, these
precautions will to a certain extent keep the cat from catching birds,
but most people have something better to do than to act as guardian
for a cat. The fact is that a cat is a stupid animal seldom showing
any real affection or loyalty for its owner and possessing but little
intelligence. It is very difficult to teach a cat even the simplest
tricks. We never know when a cat will turn on its best friend. They
have the "tiger" instinct of treachery. A cat which one minute is
contentedly purring on our lap may sink its claws into us the next.

The only way to force a cat to catch mice is to keep it half starved.
Then instead of catching mice, it will probably go after birds if
there are any in the neighbourhood. I have shut a cat up in a room
with a mouse and it is doubtful whether the cat or the mouse were the
more frightened. The cat does more damage to the song birds of this
country than any other enemy they have. If kept at home and well fed,
cats sometimes become so fat and stupid that they will not molest
birds but this is due to laziness and not to any good qualities in the
cat. In normal condition they are natural hunters.

The habits of a cat are unclean, its unearthly cries at night are
extremely disagreeable and altogether it is a nuisance. A famous
naturalist, Shaler, once said "A cat is the only animal that has been
tolerated, esteemed and at times worshipped without having a single
distinctly valuable quality."

A few years ago a quail had a nest under a rock opposite my house.
Quail raise their young like poultry rather than like robins or wrens
or the other song birds. As soon as the tiny quail chicks are hatched,
the mother takes them around like a hen with a brood of chickens. This
mother quail was my especial care and study. She became so tame that I
could feed her. Finally she hatched out ten tiny brown balls of
feathers. Our cat had been watching her, too, but not from the same
motives and one day the cat came home with the mother quail in her
mouth. She ran under the porch just out of reach and calmly ate it.
The little brood were too small to look out for themselves so of
course they all died or fell an easy victim to other cats. The mother
was probably an easy prey because in guarding the young, a quail will
pretend to have a broken wing and struggle along to attract attention
to her and away from her little ones, who scurry