I20 American Birds 



back of a chair near the window, where he could look out 

 over the slope, and here he would sit for an hour at a time, 

 as if thinking. And how do we know but that he was 

 going over many of his hunts and hairbreadth escapes and 

 thinking of the springtime that was coming and the new 

 experiences it would bring? 



Out in front of the house was a concrete basin where 

 the water-lilies grew. The lily-pads were large enough to 

 support a bird, and the linnets and goldfinches used them 

 for bath-tubs. I think the birds came for a mile around to 

 get water here, for there was hardly a time during the hot 

 days when some visitors did not come either to wash or to 

 drink. Jimmy often watched the performance and seemed 

 interested, but he knew better than to prey upon birds. 

 His home training had gone deep enough for that, and 

 he had been civilized to that extent. 



Jimmy didn't bathe very often himself, but when he 

 did he simply soaked himself till he couldn't fly. For 

 some reason he preferred the irrigating ditch; there he 

 had plenty of running water. Perhaps he thought the 

 basin where every tramp bird bathed was not clean enough. 

 He selected a shallow place and waded in to his middle; 

 then he began bobbing and throwing water, and he kept 

 it up till he was so tired and heavy he could hardly crawl 

 out. 



When it came to dealing with other people, Jimmy had 

 many interesting experiences. He was bold and fearless, 

 no matter whether he knew the person or not. One day 

 when Jimmy had been gone several hours he was brought 

 home by one of the neighbors. A carpenter was at work 

 on the top of his house, when Jimmy, apparently in fun, 



