Birds: Cats and Birds. There is no question that cats do stalk and kill birds, but cats are an insignificant factor in overall bird mortality. To cite two of a number of biological studies of the stomach contents of cats, only 6 of 50 cats in Wisconsin had eaten birds as their last meal, and birds provided a final repast for only 4% of a group of cats in Oklahoma. Wildlife authorities insist that other birds—jays, for example-kill more birds than do cats. Moreover, cats are themselves the prey of some birds, like the great horned owl. Here again some languages have more elaborate morphological systems than others. To express number, English has two systematic possibilities-singular bird and plural birds—and many that are nonsystematic: two birds, many birds, few birds, a flock, and so on. In classical Greek this section of the morphological system was fuller by one degree: ornis ("bird") and ornithes ("birds"), but also ornithe ("two birds"). Word Order. As inflection disappears from a language, other devices assume its function. Characteristic is the English use of word order.

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