ABOUT BIRDS' DRINKING. 



IF you wish to make an experiment that will cost little 

 trouble and will give much pleasure, try for a summer the 

 plan of keeping a drinking dish for the birds, in some spot 

 loved by them. A bit of shrubbery, the neighborhood of the 

 grape vine, the side of a hedge, are usually spots that they 

 frequent, and the best of all is near a tree or bush which bears 

 fruit worthless to any one but the birds. An old tin baking- 

 pan, not so deep as to be dangerous, or else a little tilted so 

 that the water may shoal off gradually, is a bath tub that will 

 attract birds all summer long. 



Birds love fresh water, and unless the dish is kept neat 

 and clean, they will not use it much. If it is kept in good 

 order and freshly filled, you will find that all the birds know 

 about it. Keep a list of the different kinds that come, and, 

 if you can, of the different birds. Some birds, by their voices, 

 their manners, or some peculiar marking, will be readily 

 recognized, and you will know Billy, or Peep, or Spot, or 

 whatever you choose to name him. Notice the time of day 

 when each kind prefers to come to bathe, and you will see 

 that they have preferences. There are early birds, just as 

 the proverb tells us, and there are birds that are late abroad, 

 birds that are particular about the temperature of their bath, 

 and others that find nothing too cold for them. I have seen 

 the little juncos, early in March, splashing in an ice-edged 

 pool, and singing as cheerily as if March were May. 



Birds differ in their dispositions as much as people, and it 

 is not a little amusing to watch the selfish bird, or the timid 



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