96 COME INTO THE GARDEN 



needs protection from above as well as from 

 below, but such protection is easily given by a 

 canopy similar to the underneath shield. Both 

 may be dressed with vines if the ground is kept 

 open below and no communication between it 

 and the basin established. Unless these condi- 

 tions can all be complied with, however, elimi- 

 nate this feature altogether. It will be a verit- 

 able death trap until the birds learn their peril 

 and abandon it — and then its reason for being 

 at all is of course gone. 



Many kinds of receptacles are offered or may 

 be secured for the basin itself; and ingenuity 

 and imagination will undoubtedly suggest others 

 that no one has ever heard of. Anything from 

 a soup plate to a marble font will serve — both 

 of these have, I believe, although neither would 

 be my choice. A shallow water space rather 

 than a deep one should be provided; and one 

 portion should be shallower than the rest, for 

 the tiny fellows and the young birds. Stones 

 that are flat and may be laid at an incline to 

 form a gradual descent, duplicate the condi- 

 tions of a brookside and please the birds; for 

 often they come for a drink and a wade when 

 they cannot stop for a dip. 



A wooden chopping bowl, painted stony gray 

 inside and out, and sprinkled with sand while 



