8 eH GE VALUSD EU BON ee Unie tees 
of nine species, moving in and out so rapidly that they were impossible 
to count. 
On May 25th, while watching flycatchers and redstarts catching insects 
over the pond back of Trailside Museum, I saw a female hummingbird 
poised over the water. Suddenly she darted and picked a gnat out of the 
air. Again she poised in mid-air, turned sharply and picked up another 
gnat. I could see her long bill open and grab the insect. After several raids 
she retired to a nearby twig to rest and then began all over again. 
For those who may be interested in making a dripping bird bath, may 
I say that it is quite simple and inexpensive. Ours consists of three cement 
bird baths, twenty inches in diameter, only one inch deep in the center, 
sloping up gradually to a rim an inch wide. I had them made by a manu- 
facturer of standard bird baths. The cement surface is gray and slightly 
rough. One bath is placed on a cement block; the other two are on the 
ground on either side, under the lips of the center stone. 
The baths are located in a slight 
bend of a low, dry stone wall which 
is built of large, rough blocks of native 
Niagaran dolomite. The wall is twenty 
inches high and twenty-four inches 
wide. It is fifty feet from the picture 
window where we eat our meals. A 
Sargent crab speads its low branches 
at one side of the baths, providing a 
perch for the birds going and coming. 
Over the well there are Douglas firs 
and junipers to supply safe refuge. 
The water line from house to 
garage passes under the wall so that 
we had only to attach a pipe which 
comes up behind the bird baths (see photo). An arm of pipe fourteen 
inches long extends at right angles to the standing pipe. This carries the 
water to a point over the middle of the central bath. An adjustable tip 
allows the water to drip slowly into the center bath, which then overflows 
into the other two. To help guide this overflow, I made grooves in the rim 
of the upper bath and added cement pendants on either side under the 
grooves. A handle on the pipe turns water off and on and allows the pipe 
to be drained in winter. 
Multiple bird baths. Note pipe with drip 
valve near center of picture. 
Our home is only a block from the Forest Preserve which follows the 
Des Plaines River, so that large oaks and maples are nearby. The “forest 
edge” is surely the reason so many warblers, thrushes, orioles, and finches 
visit our yard. While this arrangement was experimental it has worked 
well. The elements which are most important are — 
1. Shallow baths tapering gradually at the edge. 
2. Material of cement, not of smooth pottery, plastic or metal. 
3. A permanent and easily-controlled water supply. The baths are too 
shallow to keep filled by hand. 
4. Natural setting of trees and shrubs around the baths. 
5. Convenient distance from window for observation at meal time. Obser- 
vation at meals is pleasant and increases bird watching about two hours 
a day. 
