Frank loves baths, and will take several a day given the chance. But in the hospital cage, space is pretty cramped. This is the dish I use for water, and as you can see, it's pretty small for a type of bird that averages 4 1/4 inches long. I've never tried to measure Frank, but I think he is longer than that. But Frank must have decided he was dirty enough today, because he took a nice bath in this small dish. Must be all that ointment I keep smearing on his toe and most of his body.

The other day a tea-colored Society finch was in one of these dishes, and appeared to get stuck in it momentarily. Society finches are supposed to be about the same length as a White-Headed Nun, or slightly longer, but in this case I think the bird got just a little stuck because my Societies are so much pudgier than the average Society finch.

Several years ago the late Zebra finch Ma, also known as Mrs. Finster, took a bath in one of these dishes. Zebras are supposed to average 4 inches, but mine always seemed just a little bit smaller than that. At any rate, despite the fact that the dish was filled with Gatorade (which is another story altogether), Ma had a fine bath, and probably got much wetter, although not necessarily much cleaner, than Frank managed today.