Evening star., 1944-08-08
This and That
Bu Charles +. Trnce1yeu.

oy Sft"CCS e. x7uCSUCu.
Walking into the office the other
morning, We looked down on the desk,
and there was the following cryptic
message:
Dear Sir:
why will not birds take bath in
our bird bath?
Yours, EARL GOODWIN"
II Mr.. Goodwin had been a little more
explicit, we might be able to help him
more. Tsk. tsk
Under the circumstances, the best we
can do Is to discuss the place of the
bath in the home gafden, and give some
OF the reasons why birds. do or do not
use various specimens
Birds are not automatons, but living
creatures, and have their own likes and
dlslikes just as much as humans
Many Of them. for instance, will not
patronize glaring white bath.
Ihfy prefer cream, thank you.
Od-white, as 1t is called, will do yery
well. Various shades of ivory do nicely.
Some birds will, some birds won't:
we have seen cardinal taking a bath
IN glaring white basin, and a beauti.
ful sight he made, too
The thing to do If bird bath is not
patronized is to change its location.
II 1t is in among shrubbery. take H.
away and put 1t out in the open.
II 1t is in the open, put it back in
the bushes.
Irlal and error works out here. too.
There is really no accounting for MANY
OF the actions Of birds. Though thev
nave been studied for long time, there
is much that remains to be found out
about them.
Bird baths of human manufacture are
comparatively new, as bird life ooas
Sparrows will bathe in puddles. so will
starlings. They are not used to baths
with fancy trimmings. Seldom in ma
ture will bird take what might be-
called an elevated bath.
We have come to the conclusion that
more birds will come to bath out In
the open than to one set in q corn.r
or in flower border. Certainly thew
are much safer in the open from cats
and other marauders.
IL not often, however, that a bird
is caught while bathing, so no one MT
even professional worrier. need worry
about that.
"iioV uAAkHG Dc CalleQ ca
PRECIOUS sometimes. There is no ac-
counting for their tastes, but often
enough the unpatronized bath NAV be
found to give them a sense of hazard
evidently, in some way.
Such bath Is one sunk in tho
ground after the flowers have grown IN
ana tend to cover the bath. Such .
place makes an ideal pool for wandering
turtles, but the birds keep away from If
Every garden where people live who
are fond Of birds should have at least
two baths in 1t, one nat on the oro,,nS
OF even sunk in 1t, and another on a
pedestal VA -
An ordinary pan placed on the ground
o1ten gets fine patronage when the
songsters have left severally alone some
lntrlcately carved piece of stonewars
sometimes the bowl of pedestal hath
may be taken of its pedestal and mt
on the ground with q great increa a. ~
drinking and bathing. "a
one must be careful to see that th.
water Is not more than 2 inches dean
Even less is better than deener
rms is matter often overlooked nv
even the most ardent bird fans" An.
otner is the daily replenishment of the
water itself. A couple of Hopping robins
can empty bowl in about S minutes
onless some one person in the ho,lse
taxes over the duty of seeing that the
family bird bath Is kept filled. it is inst
another instance of the old saying that
what y every oneb business is no one's
tHisinaas