Why Do Birds Bathe? 133 



the ground, so that prowling cats cannot so easily take advantage of the 

 bathers when they are off guard. 



"To make a good cement bath, mix equal parts of cement and sand, with the 

 necessary amount of water, and pour into a large dishpan, first carefully lining 

 the pan with rather strong brown paper. Then press an ordinary chopping 

 bowl, right side up, into the cement until the cement reaches the rim of the 

 bowl. Weight the bowl down with bricks or other heavy material until the 

 cement is set, but not fully hardened. Remove the chopping bowl and care- 

 fully trim the rim of the new cement bath with a knife. When the cement is 

 thoroughly hardened, turn the dishpan upside down and the new bath will fall 

 out. Remove the paper and the bath is complete. It is well, however, since 

 cement is rather porous, to paint the bath inside and out with green paint. 



"The bath should be placed, if possible, where it is shady during most of the 

 day, as birds do not Uke to bathe in blazing sunlight." — Craig S. Thoms, 

 Vermillion, S. D. 



THE VISITORS TO AN ENAMELED BATH-TUB 



"Replies to several of Mr. Seton's queries have been supplied by observa- 

 tions of birds which have frequented a white-enameled pan which I have 

 kept well filled with clean water and placed a few feet from my kitchen win- 

 dow. A sloping stone in the pan permits little birds to bathe in shallow water. 



"On hot, dry days I fill this pan three and four times a day and the amount of 

 dirt left in it shows that birds' feathers are by no means as clean as they look. 

 The bathers must have been much relieved to get rid of so much dust. I am 

 sure that many young birds bathe just for the fun of it, as children like to 

 splash and wade in water. 



"in that pan I have seen Wrens, Robins, Brown Thrashers, Catbirds, Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, Crackles, Blue Jays, House Sparrows, 

 Flickers, Red-headed Woodpeckers, and Cardinal Grosbeaks. The two Wood- 

 peckers were slow and awkward in their motions; they did not bathe often 

 nor stay in the water long. 



"The more I watch birds the more I am impressed with their human charac- 

 teristics. Birds like to 'follow the crowd' to see and do what other birds do. 

 In that same door-yard I attracted many birds to eat suet. When the House 

 Sparrows saw the Nuthatches, Chickadees and Woodpeckers eating suet, they 

 would eat it too ; but in another home near Chicago I put out suet two winters 

 without attracting birds, and though many Sparrows were around they did not 

 touch it. So I thought that the Woodpeckers tried the bath because they saw 

 other birds do it. 



"Last October, at Forest Glen, on the north branch of the Chicago River, I 

 saw a beautiful sight — great numbers of birds bathing at the same time just a 

 little before sundown. Many of them were Juncos; nearest to me were a 

 pair of Bluebirds; just beyond them some yellow birds — they may have 



