CHAPTER III 



PROVIDE DRINKING AND BATHING FOUNTAINS 



IT seems that the question of water supply has received 

 little attention in the study of birds. The sudden dis- 

 appearance of birds from our Western prairie groves 

 in July has already been referred to. I have observed 

 several species of birds eagerly drinking the water that 

 had leaked through the cattle trough; a yellow warbler 

 was seen to drink out of a cup placed on the top of 

 a pump, and in one very dry summer a great bittern 

 looking for water came to a pump only a few feet from 

 the farmhouse. During the same part of the sum- 

 mer all kinds of birds were abundant in the small 

 prairie town of Litchfield, Minn., where the conditions 

 for nesting, roosting, food, and shelter were not better 

 than on the farms ; but the town has water-works, 

 lawns and gardens were freely sprinkled and I often 

 observed the birds drinking on the lawns, spluttering 

 in the pools, or taking shower baths in the spray. 



One December day I came upon a chickadee that had 

 just taken a bath in a stream, when the temperature of 

 the air was about 25 F. The stream was covered with 

 ice and snow, except where a swift current had kept it 

 open. At another time, when the temperature of the 

 air was zero or below, I saw a number of house spar- 



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