BIRDS HAVE REGULAR BATHING HABIT

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6802, 4 January 1929, Page 10

BIRDS HAVE REGULAR BATHING HABIT

BS*TE TAKE SHOWERS' UNDER WET LEAVES. '‘Many birds have a. reguiar habit, of bathing,” says Edward H. Eorbush, former Massachusetts state ornithologist and an authority on wild life, in the Christian Science Monitor. “Not only do they bathe in hot summer weather, but also in winter, even in the North, whenever they can find open water. Lacking water, some of them bathe in snow. A snowy owl, having finished eating, pushed his face into the snow to wash it clean. “Crows bathe, as do smaller birds, by wading into shallow water and ducking and splashing like timid small boys who cannot swim. Often this proceeding is much varied. Many birds bathe by flying into deep water and flying out. The phoebe sometimes drops straight down into the water like a kingfisher, submerges, and flutters out again. “Kingbirds often bathe by wading into the water, but also fly in and out; such a one dived into the middle of a shallow basin which had been put up for birds, and dashed through it, throwing out most of the water in passing. Terns, though they get most of their food by plunging into the water after little fish, arc very fond of bathing. “In hot July weather, near Muskeget Island, I have seen large flocks of terns resting on the sea, all splashing and bathing. There was no fresh water there suitable for their purpose, but at Chatham, Mass., there is a fresh-water pond not very far from their island home, and there many terns coming in from the sea with fish for their young go first to the pond, where they frolic and splash to their heart’s content;, and then, rising from the water, shake themselves like little dogs to throw off the drops, and make a bee line for their nests, with, the fish still held in their bills. “When water for bathing purposes is not convenient, small birds will bathe among wet grasses or the wet leaves of some tree or shrub, fluttering and shaking the drops over their plumage. They can get wet enough in that way, as anyone can testify who has walked through grass or bushes, wet with dew or tain. “Water birds, such as ducks, loons and cormorants, arc in tho water so much that they would not seem to require a bath, but some of them play and splash a great deal. Most birds shake out their feathers after a bath, but somo get so wet that they have to lay themselves out in the sun to dry. Others apparently never use water for bathing, but take dust baths, or sun baths only. You have seen the hens taking dust baths, 'but did (you fcver see (mo in (the water? They leave that to the ducks.”