In the 1940's and 1950's, outdoor birds kept their bird baths filled with milk. The milkman would come once a week and leave the bottles with the head of the bird household. That bird would carefully eek out just enough milk to fill the birdbath nearest it's home. That same bird would stand guard to make sure that only it's immediate family and close bird relatives bathed in the fresh milk.
Fresh milk was a valuable commodity in the 40's and 50's and in the bird community only the very wealthy could afford to purchase milk for their bird baths.
Birds would bathe in fresh milk in a similar manner that humans enjoy bathing in precious oils. The milk would infuse a bird's bones with calcium, resulting in birds having their fragile wing bones grow strong for flight! It also was of great benefit to building strong beaks and legs.
Since birds did not have refrigerators, when the milk got hot and curdled, the baths would appear to be filled with thick steaming buttermilk. This was also considered a luxury to bathe in, again similar to human's basking in hot mud pits.
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