SWIMMING HOLES 315 
Study 47. Swimming Holes 
This is a study of the common propensity of land animals 
toward water sports and pastimes. A hot day should be 
selected, and places chosen where animals naturally gather 
by the waterside. The creatures most available for observa- 
tion will probably be small boys, dogs, pigs, cows, and birds. 
If any one does not know where the swimming holes are, let 
him ask the first small boy of the neighborhood encountered. 
To locate the watering-places of farm animals, let him ask 
the stockman. To locate the best bird baths, let him ask 
some local ornithologist; or, better, let him put up his own 
basin for the benefit of the birds in some place convenient 
for observation and away from danger and alarms and keep 
it supplied with fresh water; the birds will come and use it, 
without resenting cbservation. Times for making observa- 
tions of the various sorts suggested should be so chosen as to 
avoid school-time and mealtime of the boys, milking time for 
the cows, and feeding time and sleeping time for all the cthers. 
The program of work for this study will have to be shaped 
in accordance with the local opportunities offered; it is left 
wholly to the instructor. Better than a single session’s obser- 
vations on the aquatic habits of a variety of animals, may bea 
record for a week of brief daily observations at one bathing 
place (as for example, at a bird-fountain), notes being kept 
on the numbers and kinds of participants and the nature of 
their aquatic sports. 
The record of this study will vary with the subjects selected 
and the opportunities for observation. It should narrate 
the full procedure of the animals studied when they are 
taking a bath, whether in mud or water. It should include 
an account of all the aquatic activities of the animals ob- 
served, evidences of benefit or of pleasure derived therefrom, 
and the location and character of the aquatic situations 
chosen by each species for its pastime. 
