ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



47 



sides the cost of installing pipes for running water, we decided 

 to build a pool ourselves. 



This particular bath did not even require a man to build it, 

 but was made by the feminine members of the family. The pool 

 measures five feet across, is about five inches deep in the center, 

 and gradually slopes out toward the edge, as the birds will not 

 jump at once into deep water. The fountain shown in one of the 

 illustrations, is a small brass garden sprinkler, attached to a 

 short length of hose, and was used only during extremely hot 

 weather, to keep the water in the pool fresh and cool. The cost 

 of the pool was $2.25 for cement and sand, and $.75 for the 

 spray. The cost of the labor was fully compensated for when 

 the first visitor arrived — a male Baltimore oriole. 



The pool is just outside a screened porch, but our presence on 

 the porch did not in the least disturb or frighten the birds, and 

 being so close, we spent many delightful hours watching them. 



While not nearly all of the many species observed in our yard, 

 visited the pool, still, during the season the bath was visited by 

 Flickers, Downy and Redheaded Woodpeckers, Chebecs, Blue 

 Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Grackles, Goldfinches, Chewinks, Jun- 

 cos, Cardinals, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Red-eyed and Yellow- 

 throated Viroes, Redstarts, Chestnut-sided, Bay-breasted and 

 Blackburnian Warblers, Catbirds, Brown Thrashers, House 

 Wrens, Chickadees, Kinglets, Veerys, Olive-backed and Hermit 

 Thrushes, Robins, and even a pair of Screech Owls. Probably 

 there were more that we did not happen to see. 



Directly back of the pool, we erected a food shelf which rivals 

 the bath in popularity. The pictures were taken too late in the 

 season (October 21) to show anything but English Sparrows al- 

 though a Hermit Thrush had been observed the last three evenings 

 bathing, at 5 :15, too late in the day to take a picture. Nor do the 

 illustrations show the beauty of the foliage, since the frost has 

 already destroyed the flowers, but this is a field where each can 

 carry out his own ideas making the fountain an extremely attrac- 

 tive as well as useful 

 feature of any garden. 

 I am sure if more 

 people knew the 

 amount of enjoyment 

 they would derive in 

 return for the much 

 needed water they 

 would supply our 

 feathered friends, the 

 number of bird baths 

 in a community would 

 be greatlv increased. 

 Nellie E. Peetz 



