. Bombay ducks; an account of some of the every-day birds and beasts found in a naturalist's Eldorado . y. The crows ruled the roost. When they came tobathe, all the other birds had to make way for them ;for, in the feathered world, the strong invariably takeprecedence. Now crows, notwithstanding all theirbravado, are not courageous birds. Nothing will in-duce one of their corui to plunge into water beyondhis depth. When it is a matter of bathing in one ortwo inches of water the crow is as bold as the famousBaltic Fleet. He will strut valiantly into the midst ofthe shallow pool, flutter his wi
. Bombay ducks; an account of some of the every-day birds and beasts found in a naturalist's Eldorado . y. The crows ruled the roost. When they came tobathe, all the other birds had to make way for them ;for, in the feathered world, the strong invariably takeprecedence. Now crows, notwithstanding all theirbravado, are not courageous birds. Nothing will in-duce one of their corui to plunge into water beyondhis depth. When it is a matter of bathing in one ortwo inches of water the crow is as bold as the famousBaltic Fleet. He will strut valiantly into the midst ofthe shallow pool, flutter his wings, and even duck hishead in the water. But when it comes to a galvanizediron bath, in which the water may be eighteen inchesdeep, the crow behaves very differently. I never saw acrow brave enough to trust himself to the abyss of mybath. The modus operandi of the bather was to take a firmgrasp of the rim of the bath with both feet. He wouldthen, still gripping for dear life, plunge his head andneck into the water and agitate them violently, and, atthe same time, flap his wings and wag his tail. By. THE BATHING OF THE BIRDS 169these means he would contrive to splash over himself aconsiderable quantity of water. Next, the bird wouldfly to a tree near by, shake himself as a dog does, andthen begin violently to preen his feathers, dressing inturn all parts of his plumage, twisting his wings aboutin the most wonderful manner, and undergoing allkinds of acrobatic contortions in his endeavours tomake his beak reach the more inaccessible parts of hisanatomy. Presently, the crow would fly back to thebath, again duck his head and neck, and then returnto the tree to resume the preening of his he would go back to the water a third, afourth, or even a fifth time, evidently enjoying his bathso immensely that he found it difficult to tear himselfaway from the water. The mynas were more venturesome than the used to plunge into the water and disappearcompletely bene
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirdsin, bookyear1906
