Piel NOt ae Are DY UeBsOFN: (S OfOLl ho TY AT 
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 threeevenings 
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 
earry 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 greatly increased. 
Nellie E. Peetz 





