A Garden Pond The garden, of course, is the Paradise
of birds, and perhaps more gardeners might legislate for the birds as well as the 'flowers, according to advice offered by W. H. Davies, whose charming little garden book chiefly concerned birds. A story reaches me of birds queueing up for a very small bird bath, especially of a thrush and a blackbird that showed obvious impatience when one prolonged his bath overmuch. Now device that both pleases the birds and adds to the scenic charm of a garden is to break any long border with a concreted pool. It need not be more than two inches deep and is the better for an island. It may be filled with a can, for the volume of water is small even if the pond looks spacious. It offers gardening attractions, tempts to the planting of primulas and, say, a weeping willow (the variety Vitellina pendula, for choice). It attracts all sorts of birds and a sprinkling of mammals and insects. Not only single birds, but hilarious companies will bathe there. I have counted seventeen hi such a bath that has a diameter of less than three yards.
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