Evening star., 1949-09-07
This and That
By Charles E. TraceweU

A band of so robins in a readers yard
justly may be held as real sign of autumn.
These favorite birds, after a small gath
ering together in wooded areas, begin to get
ready to fly back South.
Groups of them will fly into yards that
recently have been robinless And that will
be autumn.
What they seek is not so much food as
water, and water not for drinking so much
as for bathing.
Robins love their bath.
Often at this time of year even persons
interested in birdlife permit the garden
baths to, 60 waterless.
This Is a great disappointment to the
small robin bands on their way South.
If you do not wish to disappoint the robins
and who would want to disappoint such
fine fellows?-then be sure there Is water
in your bird bath.
Replacement may be necessary, as the
strong winged ones flop and flop in the
water.
Every drop can be tapped out in a few
minutes as robins struggle with each other
for priority.
1t is not realized commonly how far birds
must go sometimes in the last days of sum-
mer and the beginning of autumn for small,
shallow pools or puddles. Water, cool
water!" they chirp.
Deep water there is aplenty, but the
shallow pool of only few inches. best 2
to inches, is hard to come by for most
of the feathered folk.
Not all the birds like the dust bath as well
as the common sparrows, which revel in
dust as naughty human beauty might in
talcum powder, or do they use powder any
more?
Robins are among the bathing lest of all
birds. They like their water very wet, as
most OF us do, and prefer it COOL rather
than cold or tepid.
Hence the home garden bird bath, if kept
filled. is ideal for them.
This fact should be kept in mind by every
property holder. and if it is we will see far
fewer empty baths in city and suburbs.
This is, without doubt, the cheapest and
easiest thing one can do to help the birds,
but it means nothing at all if the bath is
filed one day. left dry for two days.
Keep the bath filled.
This will mean that on some days it must
be replenished several times, especially if
the robins come.
Our old starlings. with their babies, love
to bathe.
1ney OICeu mop Ill the wafer OUT OF OaLn
in matter of seconds.
In addition to the pedestal bath in some
corner, every garden should have at least
one extra bath, this one on the ground.
There are any number of things that may
be used for this. from pie pans and plates
to the small paper caps which come over
milk bottles.
The sunken bath is good, because it per-
mits such creature as the common garden
tortoise to take dip.
Few living things enjoy bath more than
the turtle. ~e2
He will amble across the yard with those
little reptilian eyes cleaning, and sink him.
self into the water without sound.
Once in, he pokes his head out, gently
moving around bit, as If to bring the water
to every part of him. Such sunken baths
are best when not more than foot in
diameter and no more than inches deep.
This water need not necessarily be fresh,
in the human sense. The creatures of ma
ture, perhaps fortunately for them, know
nothing of germs.
They will enjoy water seemingly unfit for
use, and no harm comes to, them. Thus the
Lord tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,
and the green pool to the turtles back.
Soon autumn winds will dry out bird baths
faster than ever. Then it will become even
more necessary to see to it daily that the
birds and other wild creatures can find
shallow water at will. 7e-. - Z,