CHAPTER III 
PROVIDE DRINKING AND BATHING FOUNTAINS 
Iv seems that the question of water supply has received 
little attention in the study of birds. The sudden dis- 
appearance of birds from our Western prairie groves 
in July has already been referred to. I have observed’ 
several species of birds eagerly drinking the water that 
had leaked through the cattle trough; a yellow warbler 
was seen to drink out of a cup placed on the top of 
a pump, and in one very dry summer a great bittern 
looking for water came to a pump only a few feet from 
the farmhouse. During the same part of the sum- 
mer all kinds of birds were abundant in the small 
prairie town of Litchfield, Minn., where the conditions 
for nesting, roosting, food, and shelter were not better 
than on the farms; but the town has water-works, 
lawns and gardens were freely sprinkled and I often 
observed the birds drinking on the lawns, spluttering 
in the pools, or taking shower baths in the spray. 
One December day I came upon a chickadee that had 
just taken a bath in a stream, when the temperature of 
the air was about 25°. The stream was covered with 
ice and snow, except where a swift current had kept it 
open. At another time, when the temperature of the 
air was zero or below, I saw a number of house spar- 
42 
