SWIMMING HOLES 315 



Study 47. Swimming Holes 



This is a study of the common propensity of land animals 

 toward water sports and pastimes. A hot day should be 

 selected, and places chosen where animals naturally gather 

 by the waterside. The creatures most available for observa- 

 tion will probably be small boys, dogs, pigs, cows, and birds. 

 If any one does not know where the swimming holes are, let 

 him ask the first small boy of the neighborhood encountered. 

 To locate the watering-places of farm animals, let him ask 

 the stockman. To locate the best bird baths, let him ask 

 some local ornithologist; or, better, let him put up his own 

 basin for the benefit of the birds in some place convenient 

 for observation and away from danger and alarms and keep 

 it supplied with fresh water; the birds will come and use it, 

 without resenting observation. Times for making observa- 

 tions of the various sorts suggested should be so chosen as to 

 avoid school-time and mealtime of the boys, milking time for 

 the cows, and feeding time and sleeping time for all the others. 



The program of work for this study will have to be shaped 

 in accordance with the local opportunities offered; it is left 

 wholly to the instructor. Better than a single session's obser- 

 vations on the aquatic habits of a variety of animals, may be a 

 record for a week of brief daily observations at one bathing 

 place (as for example, at a bird-fountain), notes being kept 

 on the numbers and kinds of participants and the nature of 

 their aquatic sports. 



The record of this study will vary with the subjects selected 

 and the opportunities for observation. It should narrate 

 the full procedure of the animals studied when they are 

 taking a bath, whether in mud or water. It should include 

 an account of all the aquatic activities of the animals ob- 

 served, evidences of benefit or of pleasure derived therefrom, 

 and the location and character of the aquatic situations 

 chosen by each species for its pastime. 



