Why Do Birds Bathe? 137 



upon its thorough ablutions, marvelHng exceedingly. Think of the little crea- 

 ture going to bed with sopping wet feathers. Nothing Sybaritic about our 

 Song Sparrow! This astonishing occurrence was at a quarter past five. An 

 hour later the street lights were shining." — Clarence E. Patterson, Bangor, 

 Maine. 



THE ROBIN TAKES SHOWER BATH AS WELL AS PLUNGE 



"Standing at the window of my room, one rainy day in the summertime, 

 my attention was drawn to a Robin that had alighted on the roof of a nearby 

 shed. There was a shower of rain falling, so much that there was quite a 

 splashing on the shingles. I wondered why the bird didn't seek shelter, but 

 while I wondered it commenced a series of gyrations and gymnastics, ducking 

 its head and flapping its wings precisely as if it were in a pan of water. Then I 

 saw it was taking a bath in the rain. After a minute of this exercise it ran up to 

 the comb of the shed roof and there commenced shaking itself and preening its 

 feathers, while all the time the rain was falling. Presently it flew away, as if 

 convinced that while that might be a good bathing-place it was not a good place 

 to dry one's feathers." — A. W. Beale. 



ROBINS AND FLICKER 



"in your November-December issue I noticed the article, 'Why Do Birds 

 Bathe?' with a list of birds observed taking various kinds of baths. To 

 this list let me add the following: Robins taking sun bath, any time; 

 Flicker taking plunge bath, warm mornings in summer." — S. R. Ingersoll, 

 Ballston Spa, N. Y. 



