Nothing pays the garden observer better than the bird bath,
especially if there are goldfinches in the neighbourhood. It rivals the cornflower as an attraction to this species. Perhaps because more gardeners have found this out, no form of garden ornament has improved more in aesthetic pattern or become cheaper than the stone or concrete bath, presided over by some stony frog or bird or gnome. More ambitious architecture or statuary might also be designed. The figures that decorate an Italian garden in Italy add much to its attraction, but often look rather foolish and out of place in English gardens. We might well compromise by associating the masonry with the birds. How fitly a Gilbert White (and his tortoise) or a St. Francis or a Ceres might preside over a bird bath and table in the midst of the English lawn, that itself irresistibly attracts the " dishwasher " and thrush and blackbird and finch, all of which show something like an Englishman's passion for the daily bath.
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