File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (18161567511).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo15amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Such a pool at dusk may emit a flying spray from the wet plumage of bathing bluebirds and song sparrows, while an exclusive phcebe is waiting on a branch above for a chance to cool oft" for the night by a few dashes through the water. A concrete pool with flowers planted about it, may be made an attractive feature of any garden may be done with concrete in this way, especially if it is used in connection with beautiful stones, pebbles, sand and shells. Of course in the case of bird baths which are not raised well above the ground, great care must be taken that the little bathers are not pounced upon by cats, which would other- wise have the songsters at an unusual disadvantage. In the first place the birds are so engrossed with the joy of the bath that they are less wary than usual, and their feathers being wet they fly slowly and heavily, often close to the ground. If we cannot be sure about cats, we must either have the bath raised well above the ground on some object which a cat cannot climb, or else we must be content with a very plain bath out in the open, without 182 shrubs or grass about it, for behind such things a cat will crouch. I have spoken of a bird bath made of a granite boulder; we have two like this in Meriden, New Hampshire, and they are among the most satisfactory baths we have. The one in the Meriden Bird Club's sanctuary, es- timated to weigh five tons, was lying where the glacier left it on a hillside rather more than a mile away. For the benefit of those who may have similar baths in view, I will say that several teams of oxen were re- quired to move it, and that to haul it, set it on a good foundation of stones.

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