Birds at the Bath. 



71 



of quawks from their perches on the trees, 

 and with hoarse calls of alarm they will 

 wing their way out over the marshy flats of 

 the broad river which lies on one side of 

 their roost. Here among the reeds and 

 tall grass they find the food which best 

 suits them. If you conceal yourself in the 

 underbrush just before the tide becomes 

 high, you will see the birds one by one leave 

 the marsh and come back to the trees, there 

 to sit dreaming until they get hungry again, 

 and the water has fallen low enough for 

 them to feed. 



The Night Heron is about two feet in 

 length, measured from the tip of his bill to 

 the end of his tail, and the spread of his 

 wings is more than three and a half feet. 

 The old birds have the bill black, and the 

 eyelids and naked skin in front of the eyes 



yellow. The iris is red, the feet yellow. The 

 feathers on top of the head, the fore part 

 of the back and the long feathers of the 

 shoulders are greenish black. The fore- 

 head, front of neck, breast and belly are 

 white or cream color. The sides of the neck 

 are pale lilac, and the wings, lower part of 

 the back and tail, pale grayish blue. From 

 the back of the head several long slender 

 white feathers grow backward, as seen in 

 the plate, but these are lost after the breed- 

 ing season, and do not grow again until the 

 latter part of the next winter. The young 

 birds are quite different in appearance from 

 the old ones. They are plain brownish 

 birds, the edges of each feather being paler 

 than the center. The feathers of the back 

 and wings have each a long spot of brown- 

 ish white at the end. 



BIRDS AT THE BATH 



FORT HARRISON PRAIRIE was 

 very dry during July and August of 

 the past year, and springs of water are very 

 scarce. Having a number of colonies of 

 bees in the orchard I furnished them water 

 fresh every day. Our poultry also liking 

 the shade were furnished with drinking ves- 

 sels filled daily. The birds could not bear 

 the scorching heat, and sought the shade of 

 the apple trees in large numbers. I soon 

 found that they too needed water. They 

 did not molest the bee trough, but preferred 

 to sip where the poultry drank, if the hens 

 would allow them. I placed shallow dishes 

 where the chicks could not trouble the 

 birds, and the latter required more water 

 than four dozen fowls. A catbird would 

 hop on the edge of the dish, drink all it 

 wanted, then plunge in for a large bath, 

 throwing the water in every direction, hop 

 out, shake itself, and then jump in again, 

 to try to use up all the water. By a little 

 observation I found that one catbird that 



was sitting on a nest of eggs, enjoyed a bath 

 twice a day, coming to the dish with mouth 

 open. The robins, thrushes, mockingbirds^ 

 yellowhammers, jays, orioles, cedar birds, 

 redbirds and chippies found the dishes a 

 great convenience and came regularly to 

 quench their thirst and cool their breasts. 



One hot afternoon ayellowhammer came 

 screaming to the dish for a drink, next two 

 cedar birds, then a mockingbird, and then 

 came a brown thrush which when nearing 

 the dish opened his long bill (and put back 

 his ears if he could) in a spiteful way at one 

 of the cedar bifds, causing him to take a 

 seat in the gallery on an overhanging apple 

 tree limb. I doubt if the eyes of man ever 

 beheld before the sight of four varieties of 

 wild birds, drinking out of a dish six inches 

 wide and sixteen inches long. The dishes 

 were shallow, none deeper than two inches. 

 The yellowhammer seemed to be the 

 clumsiest bather, but took great pains to 

 straighten his plumage afterward. 



Uncle Tony. 



