DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 331 



know they drink often, and they must have their baths 

 once a day and probably twice in hot weather. 



Another kind of bath the birds know how to take, and 

 people should indulge in more, is the sun bath. The 

 bird leans over, broadside to the sun, the wings fall, the 

 bill opens, and every feather is raised to let the light strike 

 the skin. When we see it for the first time, we think the 

 bird is dying ; but as the solid comfort of it is appreciated, 



FIG. 128. MOCKING B.IRD TAKING A SUN BATH 



we can hardly resist the temptation to go and do like- 

 wise, bask in the sun. 



The lack of pure water and suitable places to bathe 

 may go farther than anything else toward explaining the 

 disappearance of birds from our cities during the hot, dry 

 summer months. We see them drinking and bathing in the 

 gutters and mud puddles, and is it not natural that they take 

 their nestlings to the country as soon as they can fly ? 



fifteen minutes, and so it goes in the noon hour whenever I have time 

 to watch. Nothing adds more to the comfort of birds in hot weather. 



