THE BATHING OF THE BIRDS 171 
The smaller birds naturally require less water for 
their bath. Sparrows are quite content with a puddle. 
It affords fine safe bathing. The blithe little tailor- 
birds and the sprightly honeysuckers bathe in palm 
leaves, filled during the night with 
“, , , that same dew, which sometimes on the buds 
Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls.” 
Fairy baths, these, and surely filled by the elf who 
cried: “T must go seek some dewdrops here, 
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.” 
Other birds prefer a dust to a water-bath. The beau- 
tiful little bee-eaters bathe in this way, as does the 
hoopoe, and our friend the barn-door fowl. 
When driving into the Adyar Club, Madras, you may, 
if you are fortunate, come upon two or three bee-eaters 
squatting with ruffled feathers in the dustiest part of the 
road, and rubbing their plumage in the soft dust with 
the utmost enjoyment. Then, after much preening of 
feathers, the little company of birds take to their wings 
and, uttering their faint little twitters, perform graceful 
curves in the air, becoming alternately green and gold 
with the changing angles of their wings, 
There seems no reason why some birds should like 
water-baths, while others prefer nettoyage a sec. It is 
presumably merely a matter of taste. Some birds take 
both kinds of bath. 
In addition to their ordinary evening bathe, most 
birds indulge in a shower-bath whenever it rains, and I 
think they enjoy this form of bathing best of all, pro- 
vided the rain be not too heavy. They literally revel 
