2i6 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



The temale is very tame while sitting upon the nest. She has a firm 

 belief that owing to the dried leaf color of her plumage she is invisible, 

 and no doubt their nests are much less often found than would be the 

 case if they left it every time anyone came within sight. When you 

 get so near that she is afraid to remain on the nest any longer she will 

 quietly glide out the back way where she will be protected from view 

 by the bush under which their nests are nearly always placed. 



Towhees are very quick actioned birds and they have a habit when 

 flying through the brush of flirting their tail and spreading it at the, 

 same time so that the white tail feathers always attract attention as they 

 disappear and will serve to identify them. 



KOW BIRDS BATHE 



Near the north door in plain sight of two windows, I keep a large, 

 shallow pan filled with water for the chickens. It was not long before I 

 found out that the birds came here frequently to bathe and drink. 



A pair of Catbirds came often and were the boldest of all my feathered 

 visitors. Madam Catbird would fly gracefully down to the pan, tip her 

 head from side to side, take a sip, then another; then step lightly in and 

 splash till every feather was dripping. If the water was mostly gone 

 or she spied the cat, she would say "quit, quit," with a whispering 

 sound, and if very much disturbed would cry "Ka-a-ah, ka-a-ah" in such 

 a harsh, discordant tone that you would never expect to hear that sweet 

 melodious song so much like the Brown Thrashers from her mate. 

 And he can scold as well as she for I've heard him. Matronly Robin 

 Redbreast was more cautious than the Catbird, and would fly down to 

 the ground near the pan, run the rest of the way, step on the edge of 

 the pan, drink, hop off, run around to the other side and in fact inspect 

 it from all sides before she would risk getting in. One day she had 

 been more deliberate than usual with her inspection, and had just nicely 

 begun to bathe when Mr. Robin came for a bath. He wanted to begin 

 at once, but she wanted to finish her bath first and drove him away 

 several times. I looked for a family quarrel, and was sorry to see her 

 get so angry, when all at once she seemed to change her mind, and 

 stepped to one side of the pan, and they finished their bath together. 

 My! How the water flew. I did not wonder then that the pan needed 

 filling so often. I had to be very careful to keep out of the way when 

 Mrs. Song Sparrow came. Her home was in the garden some distance 

 away, and I suppose she did not feel as much acquainted as the others 

 did. If she did not see me she would run to the pan, get in and flutter 

 about until she was as wet as could be. One day mother and I were 



