314 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



the same bird, but the Sparrow, as is well known, 

 does both, and I have also seen both habits in the 

 Green Bee-eater of India (Merops viridis), the 

 Blue Roller of the same country (Coracias indica), 

 and the South American Seed-Snipe (Thinocorys 

 rumicivorus). Larks dust, but also bathe in the 

 rain, lying down in it with outspread wings, and 

 the Wren is said to dust — I do not know if it bathes. 

 Many fine flyers take their dip on the wing, as 

 every one has seen with the Swallow ; the Bee- 

 eater above mentioned, the Roller, and the Drongo 

 or King-Crow (Dicrurus ater) also bathe in this 

 way. So do Humming-birds and Kingfishers, the 

 land-feeding species of the latter family, as well as 

 the fishing kinds, plunging for a bath. All the 

 above birds use their feet but little, and take their 

 food by the use of their wings, even if by short 

 swoops ; but among birds which are active on their 

 feet I have seen bathing by a plunge practised by 

 the Silvery crowned Friar-bird (Philemon argan- 

 iicefs) — a very agile acrobat in the air, in spite of 

 short wings, however — and I have seen a Wood- 

 Pigeon in St. James's Park on a hot day pitch on 

 water out of its depth, and have a splash or two 

 before flying out, and this habit seems to be well 

 established both in this bird and the House-Pigeon. 

 The latter exemplified to me the passion of birds 

 for bathing in a very striking way one cold winter's 

 day at Charing Cross. The station-yard cobbles 

 were glazed with ice, but on them a score of Pigeons 

 flapped and wallowed in the cold shower thrown 



